Finding Balance
by lunaticshadow
Summary: Tsu'tey is alive! And he needs balance in his life to be complete. Who has Eywa chosen for him? Tsu'tey/OC. M-rating for swearing and mature stuff later on.
1. More DreamWalkers

_Disclaimer:_ I don't, nor will I, ever own James Cameron's Avatar. Sadly truth.

_Authors note:_ So, another fandom has struck me badly. And all of you who is waiting for the next chapter of my Star Trek fanfic 'Perfect Dreams', I am getting there, slowly, but please be patient. I am halfway through writing chapter ten, so I will hopefully post it soon enough. I've already scrapped two versions of it, so the third time is the charm, I hope =)

To all of you Avatar fans who has stumbled upon this fanfic: welcome!

This is a **Tsu'tey/OC** fanfic. Yes, he is alive and if you read on, you'll find out how I think it is he survived. And also, this will be M-rated, due to swearing and naughtiness later on.

If you have any ideas of how this fanfic could continue, I have some plans but they are not set in stone, please leave your suggestion in a review or send me a message.

Thank you,

Lunatic shadow.

_Italic text is Na'vi language and Na'vi words._

_

* * *

_Chapter 1 – More Dream-Walkers.

* * *

The jungle was lush and living, the different animals living there was giving off happy sounds and there were young ones of every species running around once more, Eywa wanted her children to have joy in the lives again after the great tragedy that had come over her realm.

Tsu'tey sighed as he sank down into one of the warm pools close to the new _Kelutrel_, they had not had those close to the old Home, and so this had been a perk when the Sky People had found and showed them another tree not far from the Thundering Rocks, making it possible for them to travel about the same distance for the rite of passage.

It had been six months since the evil Sky People had left Pandora, and slowly everything went back to normal. At least in the jungle and where the damage of the flora and fauna had not been great, but it would take many years for the land to heal at the mining site and at Hell's Gate.

Tsu'tey frowned when he thought of all the damage made by the aliens and let his hand unconsciously trace over a few scars on his chest.

He had been shot during the final battle, severely enough to be immobilized, but not enough to kill him. His _ikran_ had saved him from a certain death a few hundred yards from the ground, before he hit the jungle trees.

His lifelong friend had taken him to the ground and laid him down in a bushy area, laying down over him as the Sky People on the ground had come closer, and played dead, laying his head in an odd angle, closing his eyes and taking as shallow breaths he could.

The trick had worked and Tsu'tey had promised to hunt for his friend as thanks for saving his life.

Several hours later, Tsu'tey had woken from a light slumber reluctantly as he had heard shouting voices, his people searching for survivors and his _ikran_ had risen and let out a shriek to call the searchers over.

And his savior was no one other than Jakesully, _Toruk Makto,_ who was grinning when he saw that his clan-brother was alive, shot, but alive.

Said savior was now heading to the pools with another dream-walker; Normspellman. They were talking about Norm's upcoming rite of passage, as he was almost ready to find his own _ikran_ to bond with.

"_I see you, brother._" Jake waved to Tsu'tey and Norm greeted the warrior as well, before stepping into the pool sitting down opposite to Tsu'tey.

They bathed with their loincloths on, as this was a shared pool, with both men and women and children. They had more private pools for those who wanted to bathe solo or with their mate. The _Na'vi_ was not as prude as the Avatars were, but they weren't naked all the time either. Some people in the shared bath removed their coverings, some didn't.

Jake turned to Tsu'tey and Norm, his face more serious than it had been a minute ago.

"_More dream-walkers arrived two nights ago."_ He started, making his two brothers widen their eyes significantly.

Tsu'tey sat up straighter in the pool.

"_More warriors too?"_

"_No, or yes, but we sent them away, only four dream-walkers was allowed to land here. Maxpatel swore on his honor that they are good people and that Grace knew about them and had approved to send for them before the war."_

"_So she sent for them around nine months after we left Earth?"_ Norm asked and looked like he was trying to figure out who Grace could have approved and sent after as she had made no mention of that to them when Jake and himself had arrived.

"_Yes, two men and two women. We will meet them in five days, enough time for them to get used to their new bodies."_

"_What if Eywa have no wish of them, there are enough dream-walkers here, will they go away?"_ Tsu'tey huffed and crossed his arms, while glaring at his leader. He had stepped down as _Olo'eyktan_ when he was incapable of leading his people from his bed.

"_They know the punishment for disobeying Eywa, Olo'eyktan and the Clan's wishes. They have been informed and I will speak to them when we get to Hell's Gate."_ He glared back at Tsu'tey, huffing at his brother's hostility towards the Avatars. Maybe he was the empty cup now.

"_Did Max tell you any names of the new dream-walkers?"_ Norm asked with peaked curiosity.

"_No, only that the women's Avatar's looked really good."_ He lifted his hands and made the shape of an hour-glass in the air, wiggling his eyebrows at Norm.

Tsu'tey looked at Normspellman and wondered why the man looked embarrassed and punched Jakesully in the shoulder and his leader just laughed at his friend.

Norm took pity to Tsu'tey and explained.

"_Humans often choose mates due to how they are shaped."_ He made the motion Jake had done more slowly. "_Large breasts – thin waist – and big hips. It's all because of evolution, big hips often meant that the female could give a man strong sons and large breasts meant that she could feed them well."_

Tsu'tey nodded as he understood Normspellman's explanation of his leader's strange hand motions.

"_But don't ever do that…"_ Norm showed the movement again. "_…in front of a female. She will slap you and think you are calling her fat, as she will believe that you want a female that look like that, even if she does look like that in your eyes, she might not see herself as you see her." _Norm saw that Tsu'tey looked more confused now than ever. "_Females are very confusing, just remember to never do that movement in front of a female, and you will be fine."_

The warrior nodded at Norm's strange explanation, but was going to try to not do that in front of a female. Ever.

* * *

Later that afternoon Tsu'tey made his way over to the Hometree, walking up to the level where the Tsahìk resided. She had told him to visit, so she could see if his strength was back, or if he needed more rest.

He was itching to go out in the jungle and not have to think of taking it easy when he hunted or ran in the trees. Six months was too long time to be confined to easy prey and movements.

Pushing the long tapestry of beads apart, he greeted Mo'at with all his respect. She had been aided by Eywa to heal him, and he was very grateful for her help, even if he did not tell her that directly, Mo'at knew his gratitude.

Mo'at made Tsu'tey move his arms and bend his body, so she could see if he was fully healed. She nodded, grabbing his arm and bending it more, pushing him to stretch his formerly damaged muscles.

"_Good. You have healed well, Tsu'tey."_ She pulled out the sharp thorn she has hanging around her neck and pricked his skin, tasting his blood. "_Your strength has returned fully… however…"_ She walked around him and grabbed hold of his queue, looking at it intently.

"_Tsahìk?" _ He looked at her wearily, wondering what she sees.

"_You need balance, Tsu'tey."_ She let go of his queue and looked at him with a mysterious, but also serious, smile.

"_Balance?"_

"_Balance, yes. Which you only can find in a female."_ Her smile turned into a grin, and she looked at him knowingly.

Tsu'tey looked at her with wide eyes. A female?

"_You are getting old Tsu'tey."_ She teased. "_Younger warriors have already mated, why not you?"_

He growled a bit, but then he paused. Why hadn't he taken a mate? First he was to mate Neytiri, which had been decided since they were youths, but as she had mated after Jakesully's acceptance into the Clan, with Jakesully, he had been angry with her choice and too consumed with those feelings to think of other females. And after the War with the Sky People, he had been too damaged to think of other things than his recovery, so what stopped him from taking one of the females now?

"_I do not know, Tsahìk. Maybe Eywa has someone in mind for me?"_ He shrugged and looked at her with uncertainty he had never felt before.

Mo'at looked at the man she had seen grow from child to boy to the man he now was. She had been a witness to his both births and regarded him before as her son-to-be. Now he was the best warrior in the Clan, strong to lead and wise to make tough decisions. Now he had to make another difficult decision to make in his life – to choose the female to balance his future life.

* * *

Five days later a small party was travelling to the place called Hell's Gate. Jake, Tsu'tey, Norm and Neytiri flew on their _ikran_, Norm rode with Jake and Neytiri had gone up to the _ikran _nest and found a new companion. _Tsawke_ was her name, called that after the golden sun color that was splashed over her body.

Seeing the big complex beneath them, Jake shouted and dove fast with his companion to the Avatar compound in the back of the construction. They all landed on the lawn, their _ikran_ shouting out their arrival, before they flew over the grass to a couple of trees, climbing up to rest while waiting.

"Jake, Norm!" Doctor Max Patel came jogging over the grass from a door leading into the complex. He was smiling underneath his exopack and waved to them. When he came up to the four Na'vi, he greeted Tsu'tey and Neytiri with a respectful bow.

"Everything okay here, Max?" Jake crouched so Max didn't need to break his neck.

"As well as it could be. The new Avatar drivers have settled in well and are itching to see Pandora with their own eyes." He looked to Neytiri and Tsu'tey. "If you would allow them to, of course."

Tsu'tey growled a bit and looked away, not really knowing why he accepted Jakesully's invite to come and greet the new dream-walkers. Jake had told him that if Tsu'tey was there and looked intimidating, the new ones would not disobey the Clan.

Max motioned them to follow him to the Avatar compound in the back, where the new ones were waiting to greet the Olo'eyktan and his friends. On the way there, they passed more dream-walkers and other Na'vi, who had chosen to stay and teach the Avatars of the Na'vi and the Avatars taught English to them in return.

"Oh, I have a surprise for you, Norm." Max smiled at his tall friend, who looked even more curious than he had when they landed.

"Really? Did you find a new plant?" He still loved to look at all the flora of Pandora and try to continue Grace's work.

"No, you can never guess." Max grinned as he approached three Avatars they had not seen yet. "Guys, this is Jake Sully, Norm Spellman, Jake's mate Neytiri and the best warrior in the Clan; Tsu'tey."

Tsu'tey was pleased of his introduction to the new dream-walkers; he looked at them like he would greet those he trained for the rites. The both males swallowed and stood up straighter in front of the Na'vi warrior.

"_I see you." _ All three said at the same time, bowing to them.

"This is Gina Davies, xenobotanist." Max pointed to the female, she was just about 9'3, a bit shorter than normal and she had chopped off all her long black hair to her shoulders, except her braided queue of course, giving her an alien look among the Na'vi. She had dark shorts and a tight green t-shirt on

"Here is Rogan Harshell, biologist and language professor." A man in his forties nodded to them, he was 9'9, had grayish hair, tied into a long ponytail with his queue, he was wearing long cargo pants, and a t-shirt with 'Harvard' printed on it.

"And this is Tim Stevens, biologist." He was a bit younger than Rogan, in his thirties perhaps. His dark hair was loose, a few braids made here and there. He was 9'8 and had a broad frame, making him look strong and athletic.

Max looked around and sighed.

"Alright, where is the runaway?"

"She wanted to try her abilities more." Gina said and pointed to the large tree behind them.

They looked up among the branches and saw how a few moved as if someone climbed on them. A few small dry branches fell down on the ground and some birds flew away in fright when being disturbed.

Max walked up to the tree, muttering obscenities, and hoping she wouldn't cut herself this time.

"It is very rude to keep our guests waiting, you know!" He shouted up the tree. When he didn't get an answer, he bent down and picked up a pebble and aimed for a second and then threw it up halfway into the tree.

"Oww!" A crack was heard and a larger branch came down, followed by a blue shadow, which landed on a sturdy lower branch.

The female glared down at Max, her eyes vowed retribution on some level. She was more dressed as a Na'vi than the others. She had no shoes, as she was trying to toughen up her feet. She still had human shorts and a top, but they were short, the shorts having been cut off in half-length and the top ended just beneath her chest, showing off her long legs and slightly-larger-than-Na'vi-chest. She had her hair pulled back in a high ponytail, her queue hanging below it. Her face was framed with a dozen braids, and all of them had shining white pearls hanging in groups of three or four along them.

Her tail moved viciously behind her, she was upset that her climbing had been interrupted. Then she lifted her gaze to see the guests Max had spoken of. One of the males made her interest peak when she saw him and the familiarity in his face. She jumped down on the ground and landed gracefully next to Max. She looked to Max who nodded in confirmation to her and motioned her forward.

"Norm?" She said softly and stepped closer to the scientist.

Norm had first no clue to why a pretty Avatar-driver would address him first, rather than to greet Jake and Neytiri. But looking closer at the female, he began to notice small things, like the silver chain around her neck with a 'S' dangling from it, the shape of her face and her eyes, reminding him of someone back on Earth.

"Oh Jesus. How? Why? When?" He exclaimed when his mind finally pieced together the information for him. He took a few steps to her, looked her in the eye and then pulled her close for a hug. She began to sob and hugged him as close as she could, wrapping her arms around his neck.

Jake looked at his friend and had no idea who this woman was. Apparently she was someone Norm knew on Earth but never in a million years had he thought he would ever meet her on Pandora.

"_Ma Jake… do you know who she is?"_ Neytiri whispered, smiling for the happiness Normspellman obviously felt when he saw the female.

"_No, his mate maybe? But he never mentioned her to me."_ Norm had been fairly open about his former life on Earth, but he had never mentioned a woman in his life.

A few minutes of hugging, they let go and Norm wiped a few tears away from her cheeks, then turning her around to face Jake and the others.

"_This is my younger sister, Sarah."_ Norm said, smiling at his friends.

* * *

A few hours later, after a meal and the customary threatening-of-people-allowed to-stay-on-Pandora, Sarah and Norm wandered off to a more secluded area of the Avatar compound to talk.

"What I don't get is; how did you get in on the Avatar program? You told me you weren't interested." Norm motioned for his sister to sit down on the grass under a tree as he did the same.

"I wasn't at first, but the more you told me, even if you really shouldn't have, the more I wanted to know." Sarah let her hand move over the soft grass, trying to find the words. "I applied for the program, got called for an interview, passed the tests and they created an Avatar for me."

"But who sponsored you? You are not a scientist." He was still baffled to see her there.

"Some high-shot decided they wanted a teacher here, a real one, no offense. And I have the education and the experience to teach language and other things to people who don't understand a bit of English. And I want to learn from other cultures as well." She smiled at him. "It's so good to see you again Norm. I had no idea if you would be alive, frankly. The people at headquarters told me awful stories about Avatars being eaten by the animals here, toxic plants and all other horrible stuff." She shook her head. "I am glad they were wrong."

"But how about mom? Does she know this? That you're here?"

Sarah closed her eyes and stretched her head up towards the sky.

"She knows and approved." Opening her eyes, she grabbed hold of a few of her braids with the white pearls beaded on them.

Norm looked at the pearls and saw their different white nuances, and pinkish hues, just like mom's…

"Aw Jesus. When did she?"

"Just about three months after you left, she knew about me going away a month before that. I think it kind of did her in, knowing that her last Earthly child would leave her too and never come back. It broke her heart, Norm. But it also set her free from her illness. She believed that we were on our way to a better, green, place; a place to find a new start and new life."

"So we're the only ones left of our small clan, huh?" He tried to smile, but tears fell anyway when he thought of his mother, who he left to die on a cold planet like Earth. He wished she could have come here to see all this.

"Yep, just you and me, brother." Sarah moved closer and pulled him to her, trying to give them both comfort.

Brother and sister sat in the Pandoran afternoon, taking comfort from each other and hoping for a bright future.

* * *

Tsu'tey considered returning to Hometree as the sun slowly fell below the horizon, but they had been invited to stay the night at the compound, enjoying the company of the other Avatars and the Na'vi living there. So he stayed with his leader.

Suddenly he heard his _ikran_ call out to him and he rushed off towards the trees they rested in. When he came closer to _Ralu,_ he saw Normspellman's sister stand at a safe distance, watching the _ikran_, and Ralu had sensed her, but as he could not see her, he was upset.

"_You are upsetting my ikran. Why?"_ He hissed and grinned when she was scared of him sneaking up on her.

"_I'm sorry. I just wanted to see them. I've never seen one so close."_ She looked down on the ground, not meaning to upset his _ikran_.

He shook his head at her, knowing if Ralu had seen her, he would most probably have attacked her as she was alone.

"_You could have been killed."_ He said harshly and stepped closer to Ralu, calming him down. Glancing at her, he motioned her closer as he bonded with Ralu, making him understand that the female was no threat and that she wanted to admire him. This information made Ralu shift in his stance, almost like he was preening himself up a bit.

Sarah moved slowly forward towards the big 'bird', knowing he had very sharp teeth and could cut her open with the sharp claws he had on his wings. She kept her gaze away from the _ikran_'s golden one, as they found it threatening when stared at. Moving to the warrior's side, she cautiously reached out her hand and placed it on the animal's neck, feeling its warmth and how the muscles moved slightly under her hand.

"_What's his name?"_ She said and glanced up at Tsu'tey.

"_Ralu."_ He said, stroking his friend's neck too, when out of the blue something white and shimmering was moving in the corner of his eye. Turning to his right, he saw a small seed of the sacred tree floating down towards them.

The seed softly landed on Tsu'tey's hand that was resting on the _ikran's _neck, tickling him with its long strands, and then it floated down a bit, landing on Sarah's hand, which also rested on Ralu's neck.

Sarah felt something soft whisper over her hand and she turned her head to see the small seed sit on the back of her hand. She moved the hand slowly closer to her face, looking at the small messenger closely.

"_Atokirina'…"_ Sarah lifted her other hand and stroked the seed gently, feeling the tiny texture under her finger.

Tsu'tey looked at the female next to him, softly caressing the small seed on her hand, a pleased smile on her lips made him smile too. Eywa was telling them something, sending them a message… but what could she mean?

"_Maybe Eywa approves of me?" _She said quietly as the small seed took to the air and slowly disappeared from their sight.

Tsu'tey watched the female next to him as she followed the seed floating away. She had not seen the seed land on him first, only when it landed on her, had she noticed it. He would keep this to himself and see if Eywa really approved of her and also see if it meant something more.

The night had fallen over them and the bioluminescence of the plants and Na'vi began to shine softly around them. Ralu's markings was glowing in a pretty blue-green hue, the bond between him and Tsu'tey shone in a steady purple color, and the markings on both Tsu'tey and Sarah shimmered, creating a mysterious glow between them.

"_Thank you for letting me close to Ralu, he is magnificent."_ Sarah caressed the _ikran_ one last time and took a few steps back. "_It is time to sleep, for both my bodies."_

Sarah nodded to the warrior, who stood still and looked at her with a mix of disgust and curiosity when she had reminded him that she was not the same as him.

He watched as she walked away towards the Avatar long-house, her spots over her body showing him where she was in the darkness. He found himself admire her soft curves and wondering how she would look in real Na'vi clothing.

* * *

Next morning by the Avatar breakfast gathering outside the long-house, the Avatars and the Na'vi ate and had a conversation going. The new arrivals asked Jake about the events prior to their arrival and those knowing the story just listened to his story.

Normally not a late sleeper, Norm came stumbling out from the house, a sheepish grin on his face and he sat down, grabbing some food and ate a bit hurriedly. He looked around, not seeing his sister sitting with the group. In a moment of silence in the story-telling he asked Gina.

"Where is my sister?"

Gina looked around, she had not seen Sarah since they rose from bed, and went to the link-up after a short breakfast; she had been just after her to step into the link-up earlier.

"Don't know actually. She was with us in the link-up room, but I don't know why she would miss the morning meal with us."

Norm got a bit worried, since the RDA had left; the remaining scientist and personnel allowed to stay had turned off the parts of the complex not necessary for them to use to save energy and give as much power needed to the link-up room and the research levels.

His ear then caught the sound of the door from the complex to the compound being opened. It still needed to be greased, but no one had bothered with that yet. A human came out with an exopack covering her face. Her dark-brown hair pulled back in a ponytail, wearing t-shirt and dark cargo-pants, she jogged over the lawn to the gathering.

"_Hi._" She said in Na'vi, and then she switched to English. "My link-up wasn't functioning properly, so Max is running a diagnostic on it right now."

"Were you in it when it failed?" Norm sounded worried, people being in progress of linking-up and then being abruptly thrown back could black out and end up in a coma, not waking for days or at all.

"Yeah, but I was lucky. I just passed out for a few minutes." Her eyes shifted a bit, letting Norm know that she wasn't telling him the whole truth.

In fact, she had been passed out for almost forty minutes, scaring the shit out of Max and the other lab technicians.

"That's good. So, when are you going in?" He wanted to show her Pandora and the placed he loved.

"Hopefully, in a few hours. Otherwise I might not get in until tomorrow." She sighed, but she knew it was for her own good.

"That's good. I was hoping to take you out exploring."

"That would be great." She was hoping she would get to see the world more closely.

"Join us?" Norm patted the grass next to him.

"Later, if it's okay? I need to fix a few things first." She patted a rather big leather bag she had on her back. It was more of a Na'vi size than human size.

"Yeah, I'll see you when you've linked?" He smiled, happy to have his only family here on Pandora.

"Yes. _May Eywa watch over you."_ She said to the group before heading towards the long-house.

* * *

Coming into the house where her Avatar body slept, she felt weird at first when she saw her other side. She looked so serene lying there, almost looking like she was dreaming of something, as her limbs occasionally twitched and her eyes moved behind her eyelids.

Jumping up on the cot next to where her Avatar body was resting, she took out a piece of fabric from the bag. It was made of smooth leather, colored in a dark brown hue and she had just a little bit to sew before it was finished into a top for her Avatar-self.

The leather had she gotten from one of the Na'vi, _Tse'nire_, who was an adequate hunter, but even better in making clothes and braiding hair. She had made the braids Sarah's Avatar had in her hair, and had gotten her the leather-piece for a couple of the sparkling white pearls from her mother's necklace. Tse'nire had never seen such beautiful beads before, as most beads the Na'vi used were brown or black. The color adorning their hair often came from the feathers of the animals in the jungle. So Tse'nire had told Sarah that she would only use these pearls for something special.

Having a few pearls left, Sarah began to sew them onto the leather, in the v-cut in the front; she put a short line of pearls following the edge of the fabric. The top was like a halter-heck top, being tied in the neck and fastened on her back with laces. It should hold for jumping around in the trees.

After about one hour of sewing, the top was finally done, after many hours of work this week. Placing the top next to her other body, Sarah gathered her things and headed back towards the research complex. Half-way there, Gina called to her.

"Sarah! Max was looking for you, the link is done."

"Awesome! Will you meet me in the long-house in ten minutes; I need your help with something."

"Sure!"

Sarah waved and ran the rest of the way to the door to the complex. Finally would she get back into her Avatar and see Pandora.

* * *

Tsu'tey saw how the small female ran over the grass into the dark building. She had a smile on her face, seemingly looking forward to become a dream-walker again.

A low crooning came from behind him; Ralu was impatient and wished to go back to the new home. The open area here made him nervous for attacks, the trees and bushes was not large enough to completely hide in.

"_Calm, my friend. We will soon go to Hometree."_ Tsu'tey wrapped his arm around the big head that came to rest on his shoulder. Ralu was like a big baby sometimes, whilst at war he was one of the meanest _ikran_ that flew in the air. Nothing could stop him, the only one besting him so far was Tsu'tey when they found each other at the warrior's rite of passage.

"_Brother!"_

Tsu'tey looked over and saw how Jakesully called him over.

"_Are you ready to leave, brother?"_ He asked his leader and friend.

"_Almost. Norm asked me if we would allow his sister to join us back to Hometree. I wish to know your opinion, brother."_

Tsu'tey had almost known that Normspellman would ask to bring his sister with them. He sighed softly, thinking of what he had seen and felt when she had been around him yesterday. She was interested in the Na'vi and the land, not in the plants like the other dream-walkers had and was, so that was a plus. But he didn't know how well she would manage in the jungle, she had to be taught their ways and that was a slight bother, as long as he wasn't the one teaching her, then it would probably be fine.

"_If you…"_ A movement from the long-house caught Tsu'tey's attention, but as it was only the other female dream-walker, he spared her only a glance, not paying attention to the blue shadow that was sneaking out through a side window and up in the nearby trees. "_…deem it safe to bring her then I have no objection, brother."_ He said offhandedly as his attention was caught again, this time by the faint movement of the branches of the trees over the pathway, on which Normspellman was walking on with Maxpatel, heading towards himself and Jakesully.

A long blue tail with a black tuft of hair fell down from the tree, swishing dangerously a few times, until it was pulled back up quickly, as the owner had realized it was showing.

"_Normspellman is prey."_ Tsu'tey murmured and Jake looked towards his friend, not understanding at first, but as Norm came closer to the trees over the path, Jake understood and grinned.

"_A good hunter is always ready."_ He said to his second in command.

Tsu'tey nodded. If Normspellman thought himself to be ready for the Iknimaya, he should feel the danger and avert it as it pounced for him.

* * *

Norm was currently engrossed in his conversation with Max, the latter had found more evidence that supported Grace's theory of Pandora, and they were both chatting excitedly about the scans they needed, which Norm would do as soon as he returned to Hometree.

He was so focused on how many scanners he could convince Jake to bring back home, when he faintly heard a growl and then felt a heavy weight slam down on his back, pushing him into the bushes next to the path, making his face go splat in the soft dirt as he lost his breath for a minute.

Max was not better off, though he wasn't smashed down in the mud as Norm currently was, he was clutching his chest, feeling like his heart was about to jump out and run for cover somewhere far away from here. He was glad that he hadn't sprung a leak.

A low growl came from the blue form that stood over Norm, tail swishing fiercely a few times and then the growl faded into a soft laughter.

"Fast reflexes huh?" Sarah ruffled Norm's hair before getting off him, helping him up from the ground. He had bragged to her about his skills as a hunter last night, and she had gotten the idea to put him to the test.

"And that was for the rock you threw at me yesterday." She turned to Max and looked at him with grinning eyes. "We're even now."

"God, don't ever do that again." Max leaned against the nearest tree, taking deep breaths.

"If you don't throw rocks at me, then I won't." She promised.

* * *

As Sarah had jumped for Norm, two Na'vi had observed her closely. Jake had seen her promising ability to manage out in the Pandoran jungle on her own, just like his hunters could.

However, Tsu'tey had seen her movements in a different view - sure he had seen her movements resemble the youngsters he trained for the elite warriors of the Clan; potential, but over-confident and a bit clumsy – he had seen the gracefulness and the passion in her jump, the lethal beauty in her face, the aggressiveness in her flight through the air. She would most probably be a worthy opponent, when properly trained.

"_Normspellman, you need more training."_ Tsu'tey said, as he and Jake walked up to the trio.

Norm gave Sarah a foul glance and nodded to the warrior.

"_I understand."_

Tsu'tey then let his eyes wander over the female dream-walker, seeing her change of chest-covering with the white pearls stitched to the fabric.

"_Female, you have much training to do if you are to be a warrior. You do too much noise when attacking your prey."_ He said coldly, looking at her with a mix of loathing and contempt.

"_Who said I am to become a warrior?"_ Sarah stared at the big warrior, feeling a strong dislike for him, though he had been nice to her last night, letting her come close to his _ikran_.

"_I was considering it."_ Jake cut in as he saw her reluctance. "Look, if you want to go out there." He pointed towards the jungle. "You have to know how to defend yourself. As a warrior or a hunter, you will be able to do that. Or else you are confined to Hell's Gate or Hometree as a helper or cook. It's your choice." Jake crossed his arms and knew he had her. Norm had told him that his sister wanted to see Pandora, see the Hallelujah Mountains, the sea and the plains, to do so; she had to become a warrior or hunter.

Sarah heard and saw Jake's honesty, knowing he was right. Unless she was a hunter or warrior, she would not be safe beyond the security of the barriers of Hell's Gate or the comfort of Hometree. Sighing mentally, she knew that her following months would be hard on her body and mind.

"_If you see that future for me, Olo'eyktan, I will listen to you." _She bowed her respect for him.

"_Good. We leave within the hour. Pack some belongings you wish to bring. Ask Norm about the items forbidden to bring."_ Jake smiled, in a few months another good hunter or warrior would be born from this female dream-walker.

* * *

Sarah had packed a few things she wanted to bring to Hometree. Two pairs of cut off shorts and her other top, just in case. An army knife she had strapped to her thigh. A data pad with lesson plans for numerous of different classes – if she was allowed to teach the children, and a pouch with her mother's pearls and some precious stones.

Norm had told her to not bring too much, if needed, she could ask to return here, if there was something they needed.

She had put all the things in her bag and put it over her shoulder, letting it rest against the small of her back. Heading out on the open field, close to the edge of the jungle, she saw now Jake, Neytiri and Tsu'tey prepared their _ikran_ for the flight back.

Norm was currently arguing with Jake, the scientist wanting to have more scanners and equipment than Jake thought necessary.

Max stood to the side and smiled at the scene. He wanted Norm to bring back as much data as possible, but in the end it was Jake who decided how much Norm got to bring back.

"Fine!" Norm gave up. "Only five and the three containers." He removed everything he wasn't allowed to bring and handed it to Max.

Jake shook his head and linked with his _ikran_.

"_Sarah, you will ride with Tsu'tey, as Neytiri's bond with Tsawke is still new and she hasn't had another person yet with her." _Jake said, giving the warrior a look that said, shut-up-or-else.

"_Understood."_ She looked to the warrior, who did not seem to be too pleased about this arrangement.

Moving a bit closer to Tsu'tey and Ralu, she waited until they had bonded and Tsu'tey waved her closer.

"_Kaltxì, Ralu…"_ Sarah murmured in greeting and let her hand slide gently over his strong neck. The large beast purred at the soft touch and then he hissed out his greeting to her.

"_When I sit, get up behind me and hold on to me."_ His voice was somewhat cold, letting her know that this was not something he wanted.

Swinging up on Ralu, Tsu'tey got situated and a moment after, he felt her grab his arm for support and settle behind him, her arms sliding around his waist, grabbing hold with each hand around each elbow.

He felt her warmth emanate from the skin touching him, her breath occasionally tickled his skin and he knew that when they were up in the sky, she would most definitely press herself against him, for the fear of falling off.

Sarah saw to her left how Norm jumped up behind Jake and grabbed hold of him. He turned to her and did the thumbs up sign, smiling encouragingly at her. She forced out a small smile, feeling really nervous at the prospect of flying, but also curious to how it would feel to be up there, soaring high above the ground.

"Call us if you need us, Max." Jake said to the scientist, who nodded. "_Let's go Home!" _Jake shouted out in Na'vi and urged on his _ikran_ to take flight.

Sarah felt how Tsu'tey's muscles tensed up a second before he cried out to Ralu and the life-long friend of the warrior began to flap his wings, pushing off from the ground and leaving it far behind in a matter of minutes.

Lurching to the side suddenly, as a strong up-wind caught them; Sarah tightened her grip around Tsu'tey's waist and closed her eyes. She had not signed up for this, was the thought floating through her mind.

Tsu'tey felt her hold tighten and he glanced down, seeing how her hands held on for dear life, he realized that she must be very nervous about flying. Leveling out, he let go of Ralu's left antenna and laid his hand on her arm.

"_If you keep your eyes closed, female, you won't see Eywa's blessings."_ He said with a smirk, challenging her with his voice.

She heard him, and took a deep breath before looking at the view.

Her mind was blown away.

They were closing in on the floating mountains and what a sight it was.

She could not comprehend how the mountains could float like that. Back home mountains stood rooted to the ground and not drift around like seeds of dandelions in a warm summer's breeze.

"_Is it allowed to go up on them, or can only those who go through Iknimaya explore the mountains?"_ Some of her nervousness had receded; it was still there, as she asked Tsu'tey her question.

He was surprised to be asked such a question by a person from the sky, before they just walked straight on, invading their culture, not caring the least or showing any respect.

"_The way to the Nest of Ikran is only for those who are ready to bond. The other pathways are free for exploration, if you so wish. However, most of the ways are only available with ikran."_ He answered truthfully.

"_Someday, I would like to stand on Eywa's most blessed place, and the most highest."_ She sighed and let her eyes drink in the beauty of Pandora.

"_That place is only in reach for those who have bonded with ikran."_

"_So there is a place like that?"_

"_Yes."_

Nothing more was said between them during the rest of the flight towards Hometree. Sarah could only look at the landscape and marvel over Eywa's creation.

* * *

Authors note: There, that wasn't so bad? Please give me your reviews/comments/suggestions/spelling corrections/questions/etc. But please, no flames. I write this for my own enjoyment and I hope that there are others out there that will enjoy this as well.

Chapter two will be up in a few days, I hope. Maybe not as long as this one, but fairly long. Also, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. Most of the info regarding Na'vi and Pandora I have gotten from the Avatar wiki and the books that has been released about the movie.


	2. New friends & Flirting

**Disclaimer:** Don't own, never will, sadly.

**Authors note:** Thank you all for reading my fanfic. I am glad you like it. Here comes the next chapter, in which Sarah is appreciated by the locals. But she has to give up something she holds dear.

* * *

Chapter 2 – New friends & Flirting

* * *

After about an hour's flight in total, Hometree was near. They circled the large home and the _ikran_ prepared for landing in the top of the tree.

Seeing how closer they got to the broad and strong limbs of the tree, Sarah shifted slightly behind Tsu'tey and braced herself for impact.

Ralu flapped his wings faster and reached out with his lower body to grab a hold of the tree, setting down with a shriek to announce his arrival to his friends in the tree.

Relaxing a bit when she saw how they had landed, she released Tsu'tey from her grip, shifted a few inches backwards and swung her right leg over in front of her, between her and Tsu'tey and slid down next to Ralu's neck.

"_Irayo, Ralu."_ She patted his neck, but stepped away when she heard him hiss.

Tsu'tey jumped off his friend, disconnected the bond and stroked his head before pushing him towards the other _ikran_, hinting that he should rest now.

"_It's a wonderful place."_ He heard the female say to Neytiri, who nodded in acceptance.

"_Come, you must meet mother."_ Said Neytiri and headed to the pathway down through the tree's branches and internal structure.

When seeing how far down it actually was to the ground, Sarah hesitated by the edge and looked to her brother. "I didn't realize it's this high up."

"Neither did I at first, but it's not that far when you get used to it. Come on." He took her hand and reassured her that he would help her down.

After the first ten meters or so, Sarah felt a bit safer on her feet and let Norm's hand go, holding her balance on her own and seeing how Neytiri jumped down with ease, she wanted to try to trust her body more than she already did. When Neytiri jumped from a branch to another one further down, which were at least five meters apart, and continuing to jump after a rather hard landing, Sarah decided that she would try to do that too.

She took a deep breath and jumped, landed on the same branch as Neytiri had, but when she started to rise from her crouching position, her tail didn't cooperate to help her keep her balance and she felt unbalanced and began to fall backwards.

Norm saw how his sister made the jump down, but as she began to rise he saw how her balance messed up and her weight shifted so she began to fall backwards. His breath hitched and he jumped as fast as he could down from where he was, but he had a bad feeling that he would not make it in time. Unexpectedly a blue blur came rushing past his, what he thought, fast approach, heading towards his sister.

Sarah felt how someone strong clamped down on her wrist, stopping her fall. When looking up, she saw Tsu'tey looking at her with anger in his darkly yellow eyes, apparently not liking to save her ass.

"_You need more training, female."_ He hissed and pulled her upright on her feet, pushing her not so gently towards the safer route down. "_Use the path of the children."_ He then turned to Norm, pointing to him to watch after his sister and then he jumped down, following Jake and Neytiri.

"What crawled up his butt?" She whispered to Norm, who had come up behind her.

"Something very sour. Come on, better hope that the Dragon Lady is in a good mood today." He ushered her to the safe route, making sure she wouldn't fall down.

* * *

The daily life in the village was continuing like normal. The hunters were out, or had returned with food for the people. The gatherers collected fruit and other greens, firewood and other things to use. Mothers nursed their toddlers or watched their children play with friends. The youngsters practiced to ride or use their bows.

To sum it up, all had returned to how it was before the war, and maybe even before the Sky People came to disturb the peace in Pandora.

When the younger children saw that their leader _Toruk Makto_ had returned from his journey they laughed and cried out that their leader was back, running towards him smiling and asked him millions of question of where he had gone to.

Taking one of the kids, a small boy around five years old, Jake lifted him up and held him high above his head.

"_Have you been a good boy, Tellik?"_

The boy squealed with laughter and nodded in the affirmative to the great _Toruk Makto_. Jake let him down and ruffled his hair gently.

The children's high laughter became soft whispers all of a sudden as they laid eyes on the new female that came down from the pathway to the _ikran_ nest. Some of the adult slowed their work down and scrutinized the young and alien female. And a few of the unmated males looked appreciatively at the dream-walker. She was an alien, but that didn't mean she was ugly, rather the opposite.

"_My son, I see you."_ Mo'at came down from another pathway, from her living area to greet them.

"_I see you, mother."_ He replied and smiled at his new mother. She had insisted that he should call her that, as he was a part of the family now.

Mo'at then turned to her daughter and Tsu'tey, before approaching Norm and the new dream-walker.

"_I see you, Tsahìk. May Eywa give my blessings to you."_ Sarah met the fierce look of the Na'vi shaman, who seemed to consider Sarah's intentions.

In a quick movement, Mo'at pulled out the thorn she always carried with her and stung Sarah's shoulder with it, letting the drop of blood smear out over her tongue. When tasting it, she got an odd look in her eyes, and smirked slightly before putting the thorn back to its resting place.

"Are you also a scientist, like your brother?" She said with a thick accent in English.

Sarah wondered how she could know that she and Norm were related, as they had not told her yet, she would ask the _Tsahìk_ later.

"No, I am not. I was a teacher on Earth." She said as Mo'at walked around her, pulling her tail slightly and lifting her queue to inspect it closely.

"What did you teach?" Mo'at was curious about this, as they had not had a real dream-walker teacher, only scientists and a warrior, around them.

"I taught English to those who couldn't and in return my students taught me of their ways."

"Their ways?"

"Yes, how they lived with their families, their ceremonies, and their language, how to play a child's game and things like that."

Mo'at thought of this, looking at her for a very long time. Until she made a decision.

"You shall not teach English anymore. But we shall teach you our ways." She said with determination, no discussion about this matter.

Sarah felt like she had been punched in the stomach – not teach anymore? Why that, that Dragon Lady, thinking she could decide about her life, no way. However, as she was to open her mouth, she felt Norm's hand on her shoulder and looked back to see how he shook his head slowly.

"Listen to her. She knows a lot, more than she tells us. And in the end, all works out well. And besides… you can't teach, not if you're going to be a warrior; a fierce Amazon woman." Norm gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze.

Sarah turned to Mo'at, but she was not happy when she spoke to her.

"_I will not teach anyone Tsahìk. But it doesn't mean I'll like it."_

"_Stubborn to the core, just like Eywa made you."_ Mo'at grinned and waved her closer. "_Come, child and you will tell me of the previous owner to your white beads."_

With a puzzled look, Sarah let herself be led away by Mo'at, who just smiled and took the young female to her own living-quarters.

* * *

After returning, Tsu'tey made his way over to the warriors he rode with and trained. Unfortunately enough, they were discussing the new female, even considering mating with her, even though she was a dream-walker.

Snorting, Tsu'tey bonded with his _pa'li_ and jumped up on his back.

"_Let's go." _ He called out and rode off towards the forest, wanting to have some distraction from the chatter that spread through the village about the new female.

* * *

Much later that day, the sun was preparing to go down within the hour and the hunters returned with a few hexapedes or _yerik_s strapped over the back of their horses.

They were greeted by some of the children, who wanted to see what their parents had brought back from Eywa and to tell them about their day.

Dismounting, Tsu'tey patted his horse and wished him a goodnight and ushered him to the other horses in the enclosure they had for their horses. He then headed towards the tree, greeting a few friends and elders as he neared the center of the tree.

Seeing Jake and Norm sitting with a group of young warriors, he headed over ad greeted them too.

"_Did you have a good hunt, brother?"_ Jake asked as he chewed on a piece of fruit.

"_Yes, Eywa gave us three yerik today."_ He took a piece of fruit as well, savoring the fresh sweet taste.

A sudden laughter made them turn around, seeing how a group of the younger females came with the raw meat on big plates, heading towards the fire-pit with it. Neytiri was also helping out tonight, together with Sarah, they were chatting with each other. Neytiri appeared to explain something to Sarah, who listened intently and nodded and smiled as she understood what Neytiri meant.

As they passed another group of warriors, one of them grinned and said something to Sarah, which made her turn her head away and blush prettily. Neytiri laughed at the female and said something that made Sarah blush even more.

"_Here we go again…"_ Norm mumbled and sighed heavily.

"_It's not your fault that Eywa's blessed her."_ Jake chuckled.

"_I know, but they've called out to her the entire afternoon."_ He said, waving his hand towards the warriors who now craned their heads to see more of her.

"_She's new. They'll stop soon."_

"_Maybe, or maybe not. Mo'at told me that many of the females are pregnant now; Eywa wants her children to be happy, so she helps nature along and makes almost all females fertile at the same time, so the population will return to what it used to be. So, my sister might be mated soon, whether she wants it or not."_ Norm had begun to think both as a scientist and a Na'vi, knowing that Eywa would fix the mess RDA had made and make sure the Na'vi population got a boost.

"_Maybe, but Mo'at said that no one could choose her until she had passed Iknimaya and become one of the People. It will give her some time to adjust."_

"_Yeah, adjust to the fact that she will be chosen by someone she doesn't want. I doubt that she'll love that part."_ Norm shook his head; he had to talk to her later, giving her a chance to think of what she had gotten herself into. He didn't want to see his sister upset or sad, maybe then he would have to stand up to her honor and fight for her, as was expected for family members.

Tsu'tey sat in silence as he considered the words of Normspellman. He was right; Eywa wanted her children to thrive once more, so she had blessed most mated couples with little ones and it was good, it gave the People new hope and made them think of happier things than the loss of a loved one in the War.

Maybe, if she was lucky, she had three months before she was chosen, even longer, depending on how her training went. He felt pity for the person who would teach her.

* * *

Sarah was having a blast, she had learnt so much in just one day and she was still learning. She had talked to Mo'at first; they spent mostly an hour to speak of the world she left behind and her mother that had passed away before she left her former home. Then Mo'at had directed her to a few women in her age and told them to teach her about the edible foods that grew around Hometree and show how to harvest them.

_La'ri_ had been one of the women who had taken the newcomer under her wings, showing her around and telling her about the life in the Clan. La'ri was around the same height as Sarah, 9'7, had long braided hair that reached down to her elbows, each braid had at least five beads or more, evenly spread out.

She was friendly and helpful, a good teacher in Na'vi etiquette to Sarah.

"_So you put the meat on like this…"_ La'ri showed Sarah how to make the meat curl up in a circle as she laid it on the hot stone over the fire, the raw meat sizzling and smelling deliciously as it began to cook.

"_Smells really good…" _Sarah said as she mimicked La'ri almost perfectly.

"_Tastes even better." _La'ri grinned and laid on the last piece of meat and crouched down to watch the meat from being burnt.

"_So… I heard that Rai'nek complimented you before…"_ She poked the fire and glanced up at Sarah.

"_Yes, but I guess he just showed off before his friends."_ She blushed slightly, picking up a twig and twirled it between her fingers. Rai'nek was a big Na'vi warrior, broader than Tsu'tey and Jake, but a bit shorter. He was always mouthing off and puffed up his chest when a female passed him that fell to his liking.

"_Maybe, but many warriors have proved themselves and are allowed to choose a female from the Clan as a mate. Maybe he is testing to see if you are willing to mate him when you are one of us?"_ La'ri suggested while turning over the pieces of meat.

Sarah was shocked that the males would already 'test the waters' and see if she would be a willing mate. She had known that after the 'second birth' the fully accepted warriors and hunters would choose a mate and start a family, but that they tried to woo her over already, that was the biggest shock. Back home it took a lot more for a female to mate with someone, and that might not even be for life as it was here. What if she didn't have any feelings for the male asking her to be his mate? What then?

"_La'ri, what if I don't want the male who wants me?"_ She said in a low voice.

La'ri looked at her new friend with surprise, who would say no to a warrior or hunter?

"_I suppose you could say no, but it would offend the male greatly, unless Eywa intervenes and gives a sign that the female he chooses is not a match for him. Why would you say 'no' to mate?" _

Sarah sighed softly.

"_I was taught to love a male first, before mating. Not be chosen and feel unloved for the rest of my life."_ She explained to La'ri and smiled weakly.

"_Oh, but males only chooses one female that Eywa has approved of, who she knows will fit the warrior. To bring balance."_ She pointed to Neytiri and Jake, who sat and cuddled against a tree. "_Neytiri was really serious before Jakesully came here, he made her laugh and playful again, like she was when we were young. Balance." _

Sarah saw the honesty in La'ri's eyes and thought that it would not be that bad after all. Since she had until her acceptance into the clan to get to know the people here in the Clan, maybe she would find someone to like, just like Jake had. And who knew, she might not get her _ikran _for several months.

"_Maybe I'll find someone to love. Who knows, Eywa might have the perfect one in mind for me." _She said and flipped a piece of meat before it burnt into coal.

* * *

Norm had pulled Sarah with him and sat down close to Jake, Neytiri, Mo'at and Tsu'tey at dinner-time. A soft chatter was heard as the food was served and someone was singing softly to thank Eywa for the meal.

"_So, had a good day?"_ Norm asked between bites.

"_I learnt a lot, and I think I will learn even more after time passes."_ She swallowed down a few _teylu_ and some fruit, really enjoying this.

"_Tomorrow, I'll take you to try out a bow. Jake said I could, even if I'm not a real hunter yet."_ Norm said, and actually had he asked Jake if he could teach Sarah the basics, even if it was not his place. Jake had turned to Neytiri and she had said that it was okay for the basics, but as they saw Sarah's level of skill tomorrow, she might have to have another teacher, if she was better than Norm's current level.

"_Great, hope you have more patience with me than when you tried to teach me how to ride that stupid bike."_ She huffed at the memory; Norm had given up after a whole Saturday of trying to her Sarah to hold her balance when riding the bike on her own and didn't bother to teach her for several weeks. But he was kind enough to tend to her scrapes after every try she did.

"_Yeah, me too."_ He grinned and got a smack on his shoulder for that.

"_Normspellman has no patience with his own bow."_ Came a cold voice from their right, Tsu'tey put another piece of _teylu_ in his mouth and chewed whilst looking at the siblings.

"_Were you instantly perfect with your first bow, warrior?" _Sarah snapped back, her eyes glowing in the firelight. When he didn't answer, she knew he hadn't. She didn't press the matter, knowing it would be rude to do so in front of the whole Clan.

Tsu'tey growled low and turned his eyes away from the infuriating female. She was as stubborn as Neytiri sometimes, maybe even worse.

"Is there anything you want me to tell Max and the others?" Sarah asked Jake and Neytiri before Norm and she headed up to their hammocks.

"Just tell him that we got here safe and that we'll come and get the other newbie's in a few weeks. They need to settle in first, as we don't need more scientists here right now." Jake and Neytiri said goodnight and headed off to their part of the tree.

Sarah followed Norm to a set of branches about fifty meters off the ground, showing her the new bed that was hers for the time being.

"I was scared when first sleeping here, but the hammocks are really safe and comfortable." He jumped down from the branch they were walking on and slid down in his bed.

Sarah took it a bit more safer, sitting down on the thicker branch above her bed and slid down gently, feeling a bit of unease when the hammock swung from side to side due to her instability at first, then when she sat down, she found the balance and laid down.

"Night, sis. Tell Max hi, and remember that you have to be back early." Norm touched the side of the hammock and it closed over him, cocooning him in safely.

Staying awake a few more moments longer, Sarah listened to the different sounds coming from all around. She heard parents tell their children goodnight, the nightly animals singing or howling, the fire that cracked beneath them and lovers whispering softly to each other.

The jealousy slowly crawled up in her throat as she remembered her previous relationship on Earth. She had been so happy, but he had left her after leading her to believe he loved her deeply. Leaving her true heart for a skank with no morals, a skank she had considered her friend.

Biting back a sob, she turned to her side and touched the edge of the hammock gently, letting the cocoon enclose her and keep her safe from harm as she slowly closed her eyes.

* * *

Tsu'tey had heard her soft sob and seen the tears shine in her eyes from his hammock a few meters above her. He wondered why she cried. She had her family here now; he had heard her and Norm speak yesterday evening about them being the last two of their family. Why did she cry then?

* * *

The next morning Sarah headed down to the outside of the Hometree, going to the practice area where Norm and the other warriors-to-be were.

"_Good morning, brother."_ She greeted him and really liked the look he had going with his loin-cloth and other Na'vi items decorating him.

"_Good morning, sister. Here is a bow I think should suit you, Neytiri approved of it, so it should be great."_ He handed her a simple, but pretty bow. Carved from a dark shade of wood, the bow had a blue sheen to it and where she was supposed to hold her hand was a blue soft rope twisted around the wood.

"_Pretty…"_ She said and took the bow from Norm. She let her fingers slide over the string, plucking it and heard a soft twang sound from it, telling her that if it made that noise, it was tensed as it should always be.

"_Try pulling back the string, just do what feels natural."_ Norm thought back on his first lesson and did what Jake had taught him.

Sarah weighed the bow in both hands and felt a more natural grip in her left hand. Lifting it up vertically, she held tightly onto the bow and let her right hand grip the string with her index and long fingers, curving them around the string and placing her feet in a balanced pose, her left foot in front and her right behind her.

Pulling back in imaginary arrow, she felt how her muscles protested and she knew that she had a long way to go before she could use the bow without effort.

Letting the string go, she hadn't even pulled it back halfway, the bow twanged louder than it should.

"_Good, you need to…."_ Norm began, but was interrupted by an angry voice.

"_Do not praise her when she does wrong." _Tsu'tey stalked up to them and frowned at Norm. "_You know she did not succeed, so why praise her?"_

"_Not everyone improves when being criticized, Tsu'tey."_ Norm hissed back and his ears folded back in aggression.

"_If she cannot take the truth, then she is not good enough to become a warrior."_ He hissed back.

Sarah looked from her brother to the warrior and frowned herself.

"_Norm, is he right?"_ She turned to her brother, who had the decency to look a bit ashamed.

"_Yes, you are too stiff and held the bow wrong. But I would have told you, if not __**he**__ had interrupted."_ He glanced to Tsu'tey, who huffed.

She shook her head and turned to Tsu'tey.

"_Can you teach me?"_ She asked the warrior, swallowing her pride and putting aside that he seemed to despise her a bit.

Tsu'tey was surprised to hear her ask him to teach her how to use a bow. He shook his head.

"_If I would teach you, then I have to teach you to be a warrior too, not only how to use a bow, but how to fight and run in the trees and to take down a prey. I won't go easy on you, you will become a strong warrior, or I will leave you in the hands of Eywa deep in the jungle in the darkest night."_

Meeting his gaze, she only hesitated for a short moment, before saying.

"_Make me a warrior, Tsu'tey, son of Ateyo."

* * *

_

Authors note: I could have gone on for a bit more, but I felt it was a good end, and it leaves you wanting more. Those of you that haven't read anything by me before, know this – I loooooooove cliffhangers… *grins*


	3. Learning Slowly

**Disclaimer:** Don't own, never will, sadly.

**Authors note:** Thank you for all your lovely reviews! Especially thank you to _Mecker _for your long review and very helpful comment. I really love those =)

I would very much appreciate ideas on what she should train on, bow and to ride is a given. But I need a few more ideas than those I already have. As I don't wish for this fanfic to be over in say six or seven chapters.

Enjoy,

Lunatic.

* * *

Chapter 3 – Learning slowly

* * *

Falling into the mud for the hundredth time, Sarah decided to stay down for a short respite and reflect to as why she was at the lowest point in her life at the moment.

It all had started with Norm trying to teach her how to use a bow, and doing it wrongly, making Tsu'tey, the greatest warrior in the _Omaticaya_ Clan butt in and make her ask him to train her. Oh yeah, this was all, the pompous _skxawng,_ Tsu'tey's fault. Not hers.

"_Not time for rest. Get up, skxawng!"_ Said warriors frustrated voice echoed in the clearing near the _pa'li_ corrals.

Pushing herself up on bruised arms, Sarah brushed off the worst of the mud, spit out some and gave Tsu'tey the dirtiest look she could as she walked to him and the _pa'li_ next to him.

The animal was a fine specimen, a female used for the beginners, as she was the calmest one. But she was also being frustrated at her inexperienced rider, who had told her numerous times to go 'forward' which meant her running through the jungle at top speed.

Sarah glared at Tsu'tey, who glared back equally, nodding at her to get up and make _tsaheylu_ again.

Making the bond, she felt the frustration come through and sighed.

"_It will not work. Mara is tired of me and of this."_ She looked at Tsu'tey with tired eyes, reflecting some of Mara's feelings.

"_Good, go practice with your bow. Without arrows."_ Tsu'tey made the hand sign for 'dismount' and pushed Mara towards the other _pa'li_ as Sarah landed on the ground next to the big animal.

She was puzzled as she followed her teacher towards the target area.

"_Forgive my stupid question, but why didn't you just yell at me, like you have done too many times to count when I said I couldn't do it anymore?"_

"_You listened to Mara, through the bond. You learnt to feel when your mount is tired to run anymore for you." _He stopped and pointed towards the pools. "_You reek of dirt, go bathe and eat something, meet me later."_ The warrior jumped up in a nearby tree and melted into the foliage in no time, leaving the puzzled female to her thoughts.

Tsu'tey had been nice to her, for a millisecond though, but still… he had been nice.

* * *

Finding a smaller pool a bit off from the main ones, which were used by some of the children and females, Sarah looked around, hoping no one was peeping at her. She had still issues with being naked in front of others, but she really had to strip down and scrub the dirt from her clothes. She had gotten mud inside of her clothes too, making the fabric chafe slightly against her skin.

Easing her tired body down in the tempered pool, she sighed in pleasure and dunked her head beneath the surface once, letting the water seep into the braids and gently rinse away sweat and dirt from her weary head. When she came back up, she smoothed her hair back and began to feel for a good place to sit on in the pool. Finding a seat made of stone, she sat down and glanced around again, before opening her shorts and slid them off with little effort, together with the army knife she had strapped around her thigh. Putting it nearby for easy reach, she then moved her shorts through the water; hopefully all dirt was rinsed away as she laid them next to the knife. Checking her surroundings a third time, she sank down lower in the pool, before she pulled off her top, hoping that the dark water would provide some cover for her, now free, chest.

Letting her fingers run over the fabric, she rubbed away the dirt on the outside and on the inside. When done, she laid her top on a sunny spot nearby and let it dry. Then she turned her attention to her sore body.

* * *

And so did a few others. A few of the warriors in training and a couple of seasoned warriors, six in total, had seen how the new dream-walker had gone to the pools to cleanse after a few falls in the mud.

The two seasoned warriors, _Rai'nek _and _Kei'at_ stood grinning in the tree above the pool Sarah was using, the four young warriors was spread out in the foliage on the ground, smirking to themselves as they watched her move her hands over her body to remove the mud.

She was not built willowy as their females, but she had an appeal to their eyes, an exotic commodity among the Na'vi, to be crude. But if she became a warrior like Jakesully, she might be greatly respected and a female to fight over when the time for mating came.

Sarah was totally oblivious of being watched. She thought she heard something, but dismissed it as some animal sound. She sank down in the pool and closed her eyes for a moment, feeling the serenity seep into her.

A few minutes later, she dozed off, the tiresome training taking out its right on her.

Five minutes after that, she was abruptly woken by someone falling into her pool, making her scream in surprise and fear.

* * *

Tsu'tey had been sitting in a tree not far from the pools, eating fruit, waiting for Sarah to be finished, when he heard her scream.

Jumping up in a flash, he arrived to her location, seeing how she pressed her top against her chest with one hand, her lower body still in the pool, and her other hand held her hunter-knife under the chin of one of his younger warrior-trainees.

She was pissed at the young Na'vi, who had been pushed by his friends through the bushes, making him stumble into the pool and scaring the shit out of her. She was sore and tired and had acted on instinct when she had gotten her bearings when being awaken so abruptly. When she had seen the confused youngling surface, she had pulled out her knife that lay on the edge and swiftly put it under his chin, giving him a very angry glare.

Tsu'tey looked from the young warrior to the female, seeing what had happened. Hearing the bushes behind him rustle, he spoke up.

"C_ome out and explain. Now!" _His tone of voice accepted no excuses.

Three young warriors trudged out from the foliage, standing straight and looking at Tsu'tey with great respect. When no one spoke, Tsu'tey growled and showed his teeth.

"_It was a dare, to look at the female dream-walker when she bathed. To see if she truly looked like us underneath her coverings…"_ One of the three standing said very quickly.

Sarah was still pissed and hearing the reasoning behind her rude awakening didn't make her less angry. The Na'vi were supposedly not prude and saw nude bodies both here and there during a normal day in the village, so peeping-toms should not exist.

Growling low, Sarah made the five males on the ground and the two in the tree focus on her, as her tail twitched viciously, showing her anger to them.

"_Do you know what we dream-walker females do with males who look at them bathing, without permission?"_ She said sweetly and looked at the four younglings with danger in her eyes.

The four shook their heads and hoped it wasn't too gruesome.

"_We cut off their manly parts… slowly and while they are awake…"_ She hissed and glanced down at the crotch of the one she had under knife-point.

She saw how they tensed up, even Tsu'tey flinched a bit.

"_Leave!"_ She growled and pushed away the youngling from her. He scrambled backwards and ran to his friends, who all disappeared into the woods.

Huffing softly, Sarah turned away from Tsu'tey, closing her eyes in mortification. She had no idea of how much the youngsters saw when she flew up from the water as their friend went into the pool.

"_How loudly did I scream?"_ She said, glancing at him.

"_The whole Clan heard you."_ He said, his tone of voice was now unreadable.

In the soft sunlight, filtered by the leaves, Tsu'tey saw her skin glow where the water coated her skin and the sun reflected the pigment blue hue, with the darker shades striped that covered her body in an intricate pattern. The non-glowing bioluminescence dotted lines, which set her apart from another female, reflected the light, and made him look at her more closely.

She was covered in water, up to where her tail began and it still reflected her mood by twitching erratically, her body turned from him and she still pressed her top to her chest.

"_Could you leave, I want to dress."_ She said with an irritated tinge to her voice.

Not saying anything, he disappeared into the foliage.

* * *

"What is it I'm hearing that dream-walker females cut off the manly parts of males that anger them?" Jake looked at Sarah with a confused look.

He had returned from a hunting party, and a few of the younger males he trained had come to him and asked if it was true and if they should stay away from her, or even send her back, just for the Clans safety. And their own.

Sarah sighed and told her story about how she had gone to cleanse and dozed off and suddenly she had been woken and held a youngling at knife-point whilst being half-naked.

"I was pissed, alright. I wanted them gone and some punishment did they deserve. Ask Tsu'tey, he heard me scream and knows which four who spied on me. Some stupid dare." She shook her head and hoped he wouldn't be too mad at her. She was very surprised though when he began to laugh real loud.

"I wish I had seen it." He shook with laughter and tried to stop himself from laughing too much.

"I don't think Neytiri would have allowed it." Sarah said coldly. That shut him up, Neytiri could be really possessive.

"Allow what?" Neytiri popped up behind Jake and saw how Sarah grinned and Jake looked a bit apologetic towards Sarah.

"To look at me naked when some youngsters scared the shit out of me when I was cleansing earlier, they had dared each other." She said and saw how Jake tried to sneak away, but Neytiri grabbed him by his tail.

"Did you punish them?" She asked and tried not to pay any attention to Jake, who tried to pull his tail away, but Neytiri squeezed harder.

"I told them that angry dream-walker females cut of the manly parts, while the male was awake." Sarah grinned and Neytiri nodded her consent.

"Good. Excuse me; I have a male to 'punish'." She pulled hard in Jake's tail and he had to go with her to their nest, submitting to her 'punishment'.

* * *

A few mornings after the 'bathing incident', before the sun had peaked out from her hiding place, a figure slid out from her hammock and tried to get down to the ground before anyone noticed her too much.

A few of the _Omaticaya _was already up, preparing breakfast and giving the fire more to eat. They saw how she passed them, greeted them and took a piece of fruit before heading out somewhere.

Sarah had made up her mind this morning, just like she had the previous mornings; that this was the day she would stay on the _pa'li_ longer than a few seconds.

She really hoped that this was the day she would stay on the horse. Tsu'tey had grown really tired of her incapability to learn the ways of the bond. And all the _pa'li_ began to tire of her too; some of the animals had begun to withdraw from her, unless Tsu'tey held them in place as she got up.

Walking down the path to where the herd rested, she was marveled once more of the world of Pandora. She had never been up this early before, when the bioluminescent lights of the flora began to dim slowly, bringing out the daytime colors of the different plants around her.

Dew fell down from the trees above her, the fresh water brought out goose bumps on the skin and a few memories.

_Back on Earth, she had never willingly gone up early in the mornings, sleeping late was her forte and just curling up in the warmth of the covers. One day, she was around fifteen and Norm had been around twenty, and he had chased her out from bed at the unholy hour of four am._

_He had then pushed her into the car, she had only been wearing her pajamas and her blanket, but she had managed to pull on some trainers. Norm had been so excited about something, but he hadn't told her what it was. So, he took the car about thirty minutes from their house, forced her to walk over a muddy hill, until they came to a hilltop with the most amazing view ever. Not a single house to see, the only light was the billion stars and a tiny crescent moon._

_On the hilltop stood an old tree, withered and crooked, only a few branches had leaves and when they sat under it, the morning dew dropped down on her skin, giving her goose bumps._

_She had yelled at Norm for taking her here, sure the stars and the view were nice, but…_

_He had hushed her then, looking at the clock and said - It's time, look…_

_And she had turned her gaze to the stars, and her eyes had never been so wide in her entire life._

_The first and largest meteor shower, she had ever seen was burning up in the atmosphere. It was so amazing that she broke down completely and cried._

_Norm had just smiled and held her, whispering that he would go out there someday and bring her with him, seeing Earth from up there and never go back._

Feeling more water drops fall on her back, she smiled at the memory and continued on her way to the _pa'li_.

* * *

Waking up just before the sun came up, Tsu'tey jumped with ease out of his hammock and stretched his limbs after a rather good night's sleep.

He frowned slightly when he thought of the female he had to continue to teach, whom had not gotten any closer to ride with somewhat ease. Even Jakesully had been faster than this; he had at least gotten a hundred meters before he was thrown off.

Jumping down a few branches, he set out to wake the lazy female. She was not only incompetent; she was hard to wake up too. She was like a stinger that refused to let go of its prey; she nestled in as deep as she could in the hammock, not letting go of the land of dreams.

When he found the hammock she had been given empty, he was very confused. How had Eywa managed this? The female was already up and running around somewhere. Not good.

She had proven to be extremely stubborn and asking him every day so far when she could start her training with the bow and arrow. And all the time he had answered; when you can ride.

Stubborn people could do stupid things, like doing something they had been denied to do. He cursed and began the trek down to the ground, hoping she really hadn't done what he feared; trying the bow before she was ready.

Almost out of the trees safe embrace; he was stopped by an elder who wanted to know why he was in such a hurry.

Elder _Kiptok_ was a wise man, nearing his time to return to Eywa, and he was one you couldn't dismiss, even if you were in a hurry.

"_I am in search for the female. She is too stubborn for her own good."_ Tsu'tey said between his teeth, listening after cries of pain or upset voices coming from the practice area.

"_She passed me, when breakfast preparations began." _He said slowly, not giving a hit to where she had gone to.

Tsu'tey cursed again, that gave her at least two hours head-start, getting into heaps of trouble. Like bringing a herd of _palulukan_ to the village.

"_Which way did she go? The practice grounds?"_

Kiptok looked like he thought really hard on that, trying to remember where the young female had gone off. Scratching his head in thought, he first pointed to the path leading out from the village, then to the right, towards where the _pa'li _was kept.

"_She went to ride, I guess."_ He nodded to Tsu'tey, who was already running to where he had pointed.

* * *

Tsu'tey cursed, gone riding on her own? She was not ready for that either, she had not even stayed on the _pa'li_ without his help. Hopefully, they would avoid her and not let her ride.

He had never such luck.

Arriving to the area they practiced on, he didn't see her anywhere. Growling in a frustrated way, he was about to go back and look if she really wasn't practicing her bow instead, when he heard a frustrated groan coming further down the path.

He stayed in the bushes as he saw her lying on the ground, a male _pa'li_ towering over her and looking like he shook his head at her.

"_I know, too eager…"_ He heard her murmur as she got up on her feet, stroking the big animal on his flank, she spoke softly as she connected their queues together, both shuddering when the connection was made.

Standing next to the _pa'li_ she jumped up and slowly pulled herself up on his back, sitting up and closing her eyes in concentration.

Suddenly, the mount took a slow step forward, another, stumbling slightly, before very slowly walking in a steady pace.

He saw a big smile graze her lips as she felt how she moved forward slowly, without falling off after a few seconds. He couldn't help but smile too, finally she got it.

Stepping out from his hiding place when she passed him, he looked at her stance while riding, judging that she needed a lot more training before she was a sufficient rider.

Sarah felt so happy when she rode the big horse; she felt his legs move, his breathing even and a feeling of being free. Opening her eyes, she saw that she was almost out of road that was flat enough for her to ride easily on. Imagining turning to the right, she felt another burst of joy when he did as she thought, turning to the right and going back the way they had come.

Seeing someone stand at the other end, Sarah couldn't be angry for being disturbed, not when she was so happy she finally rode the horse, or at least walking around.

"_Look, Tsu'tey! I'm riding without falling off!"_ She grinned at her teacher as she neared him, her cheerfulness surprising them both.

Tsu'tey crossed his arms over his chest and huffed.

"_Good. Go faster."_

"_Faster?"_

She shouldn't have said that, as soon as the word had left her mouth, the _pa'li_ took off and this time she held on, but the ride didn't last long. A big log lay in their path, and as she didn't give the command to jump, everything came to an abrupt halt and she flew through the air once more, landing in some bushes, getting more scrapes and bruises.

"Aw man…" She groaned and didn't bother to get up.

Tsu'tey grinned as he shook his head. She was amusing, he gave her that.

* * *

**Authors note:** Even Na'vi can be very curious and juvenile and do dares :P Hope it didn't sound too bad.

As I said before, please give me some more ideas to what she should train on with Tsu'tey and the other warriors-to-be.


	4. Village Life

**Disclaimer:** Don't own, never will, sadly.

**Authors note:** Amazed huh? Another chapter after only one day! I was on a roll today.

Hope you like!

Enjoy,

Lunatic.

* * *

Chapter 4 – Village Life

* * *

Two weeks into her training with Tsu'tey, they had to make a short break for a few days or so, as he and the experienced hunters and warriors had to go on a hunt, trying to bring home a large supply of meat, due to the fact that there were so many females pregnant in the Clan, so the extra meat was needed.

The day when the hunters left, were both happy and a bit melancholy; a hunter could be killed by the prey, if unfortunate. Those males with families knew they had to watch their backs and assure their families that they would return with plenty of food to last many months.

The males with no mates, they were a bit cocky and excited to bring back a trophy, giving them more status and to impress the one they wished to mate.

Both Jake and Tsu'tey were leaving, as leaders of the hunting-party, leaving Neytiri, Mo'at and to some part, Norm, in charge of the Clan. Jake would have a radio with him, if something big would happen, just for emergencies. He left it with Mo'at, who knew what a real emergency looked like, unlike Norm, for example, who would call Jake to tell him that he had found an unusual plant or something like that.

Anyway, Sarah stood at a distance, looking at the commotion just outside the village, smiling to herself when she saw the families standing close together, the children clinging to their fathers or mothers that were leaving for a couple of days. Some children that weren't old enough to understand why their parent left cried a bit, cuddling close for as long as possible.

Hearing a _pa'li_ coming up behind her, she looked over her shoulder and saw Tsu'tey coming on a very fierce looking male _pa'li_ she had never seen before. This was obviously the herd's leader, he never slept with his herd, and he stood guard over them, coming only when Tsu'tey needed.

"_Don't do anything stupid when I'm not here to teach you, female."_ He looked at her sternly.

"_Since when do I disobey you, teacher?"_ She grinned back crossing her arms over her chest and met his stare.

A long tongue in her face made her shift the attention to the horse. The shining white pearls she had in her hair were the target. Probably they looked edible and he wanted to see if they were.

"_Stop that."_ She laughed and put up her hand in front of his snout. "_I am not for eating."_ Sarah scratched his nose and pushed him away. Looking up to Tsu'tey she gave him a half-smile.

"_Neytiri is going to teach me about the Clan when you are gone with the hunters. I'll try to not get too lazy."_

Tsu'tey's eyes softened slightly when he saw his _pa'li Txepvi_ try to eat her white pearls. He felt the amusement from his friend through their bond, and the seriousness to try and see if the pearls really were edible.

"_Ask her to take you out on a workout in the jungle; she'll know what it means."_ He had a mischievous spark in his eyes when he said that.

Hearing Jake calling out to the hunters, he did the same where he was and saw how the parents let go of their children, saying their goodbyes. Urging on Txepvi, he felt an encouraging slap on the horses hind-leg and he glanced backwards to see her blush slightly.

"_Bring some Talioang meat back to Home; we're almost out of it."_ Sarah said and stuttered a bit, before she turned away and ran back to the tree, her blush increasing when she thought of what she had done. Slapping a _pa'li_ on the ass whilst connected to a rider was equally to slap the rider's ass…

* * *

When the hunters had gone, all females and children, and those males staying to guard Hometree, went down to the pools to wash. It was a kind of bonding ritual, to cleanse the melancholy away and begin the task of preparing for the hunters return in a few days. They would then celebrate the hunt and feast on the meat they had gotten from Eywa.

All the females that had no children to wash, commandeered a pool a bit away from the mothers and children, they wanted to chat about their mates and who the single ladies could potentially mate with.

Neytiri pulled Sarah along with her, introducing her to a few of her childhood friends.

"_So, while you learn to be a hunter from Tsu'tey, you will learn the way of the Clan from us."_ Neytiri pointed to herself and her friends.

"_Ninat will teach you about our songs, what they mean to us and teach you how to sing."_ A pretty female waved, long braids hanging down from her skull, tied into a low ponytail, reached down to her waist, with many beads in red spread out evenly all over them.

"_La'ri will teach you how to cook the food we eat and how to serve it._" Sarah smiled in greeting to her second friend she had made here in the clan.

"_And I will teach you about the social life and the different people in the Clan. And keep you in shape until Tsu'tey returns."_ She and the other females laughed at the last part.

Finding a small pool for the four of them, the Na'vi females began to take off their tops and loincloths, but Sarah hesitated, not being used to be naked in her new body before others.

"_Something wrong?"_ Ninat asked with a soft melodious voice. The other two looked up at Sarah.

"_I'm… I'm not used to bathing naked with other. That is all…"_ Slowly she began to pull in the strings that held her top up, and pulled it over her head, only to get stuck with her long braid.

Neytiri laughed and helped her out, shaking her head at the strange top.

"_Not good for hunting. You need something like La'ri is wearing."_ She pointed to the bikini-style top La'ri held up. It would cover her and give her freedom in her movements. Neytiri looked down on Sarah's shorts and shook her head. "_And something similar to mine to cover your lower body."_ She pointed to her covering skin, which hung between her legs.

"_Could I have something like Ninat's to go under? I don't want to show myself to any male…"_ She pointed to Ninat's loincloth that was similar to a bikini-bottom.

"_We'll see the cloth makers after we bathe, then you will learn to live like us."_ Neytiri determined.

* * *

Norm sat with a few of his fellow hunters-to-be and sharpened arrows, knives and spears, talking about how it would be when finally flying their own _ikran._

And how it would be when they got to choose a female for a mate. Norm had not thought about that part yet, he had been rather focused with his training and exploration and research of Pandora. Another thing for him to do, if he really found someone that wanted the plant crazy dream-walker.

"Norm, I'm going to send an 'all is well' report to Max, something you want to send?"

The voice of his sister broke through his thoughts and he shook his head to clear his head from them.

"Yeah, a few things, they're on a pad. I'll get them." He rose and looked up at his baby sister. And did a double take.

"Sarah…?" He looked really surprised when he saw her; that was not the way she had dressed this morning when the hunters went away.

Her halter top, still dark brown and with the white beads sown to the front in the natural v-cut, was much smaller, more like a bikini, a very tiny bikini in the eyes of an older brother. And the shorts were gone, replaced by a rectangular loincloth, also dark brown, reaching to her knees. After looking her over more closely, he saw that she had had the decency to put on a pair of bikini-bottoms, in the same material as the other clothes she wore.

Signifying that she was a new clan member, and rather low in rank, she had almost no decorations on her, except the silver necklace from home, the pearls in her hair and on her top and a new arm bracelet on her upper right arm, with green stones around, looking a bit like the stones Neytiri had around her neck.

"The girls decided that my customized Avatar clothes weren't good enough for the life in the Clan, so they took me to the seamstress… Is it okay?" She pulled a bit on the fabric of her loincloth and looked a bit uncomfortable.

"You look like a real Na'vi." He said and gave her a genuine smile. "But I'm really glad that you didn't choose thongs for underwear." He said seriously.

Sarah just laughed at him. He was so cute when he acted all protective and big brother on her.

"Seriously! Anyone gawking on your ass would have an arrow in their heart this fast." He snapped his fingers.

"You better start with those guys then." She pointed behind him, where his friends sat and tried to get an eyeful of her new, more revealing, outfit.

Shocked, Norm glared at his friends, who looked really interested in the weapon they held in their hands and begun to sharpen them with intense movements.

* * *

She would kill him, she really would. Sarah sank down, leaning against the trunk of a big tree somewhere out in the Pandoran jungle. She was covered in dirt and sweat, short of breath and her limbs ached like they never had before.

Sarah had done as Tsu'tey had asked her; telling Neytiri that her teacher had wanted her to go on a workout in the jungle and the Na'vi female had gotten same mischievous look in her eyes as Tsu'tey had before he left.

Now she knew why.

"_You do this every day?"_ She asked her friend, who sat on a branch above her, looking like she had just strolled through the jungle without doing anything to exert herself.

"_Yes, for training and when we hunt, gather food and just play."_ She jumped down to where Sarah sat. "_Come, we must be back for dinner."_

Neytiri jumped down even further and looked up at Sarah with an impatient glare.

"_Faster, or you will be even more tired on the way back."_

Sarah groaned and rose, jumped after Neytiri, who was already ten meters in front of her. She was going to be dead when they arrived back at Hometree.

* * *

The next day, Sarah was taught the significance of the songs by Ninat, who even taught her to sing, though she didn't sound as good as Ninat. She doubted she ever would.

La'ri showed her how to cook _teylu_ and different fruits. Cut the fruits in decorative shapes, how to serve, and who to serve food and drinks to first. How to carry the big leaf plates with food and drinks, how to eat and not look like a starving child and so much more that Sarah's head spun more than a few turns.

Neytiri rounded up a couple of the children before dinner and taught Sarah a few games to play, even a few of the other females and males joined in, playing and having fun with them.

There was so much to learn, so many nuances of social life, much more equal between male and female than the life on Earth had been. When she told the Clan stories of Earth the second evening the hunters were gone, Norm helped out with details and stuff, many frowned when they heard of the infidelity among mates, as the Na'vi mated for life. Infidelity on Pandora often ended with death for all involved, and maybe happened once in every fifty years or so.

Nothing out of the ordinary happened on these two days or the following two, but on the fifth day, something out of the ordinary happened.

* * *

Around noon, an _Omaticaya_ scout came rushing down from the _ikran_ nest with his breath caught in his throat.

Speaking hurriedly, he said that twenty warriors from the Horse Clan of the Plains, with their leader were on their way here, he had seen them from the air and they were approaching fast.

Mo'at and Neytiri exchanged glances, and then they went to make sure everybody was to return to the safety of the tree and not stay out when the warriors came.

They had warriors and people capable to fight, but hopefully it wouldn't come to that.

Sarah had been with La'ri, gathering fruit when a youngling came running, telling them to return to Hometree immediately. Both females rushed back, dropping a few of their yield in their hurry.

When they got back in, Neytiri pushed Sarah roughly towards Mo'at's nest, telling her to stay out of sight and contact Jake and Tsu'tey and get them back here as soon as they could.

The Avatar driver asked what was going on, but only got the answer that another clan was coming for a visit and that they didn't like sky people and their creations too much.

Sarah shut up when she saw the urgency in Neytiri's eyes and ran to hide in Mo'at's place.

* * *

The hunt had gone better than expected and they all sat around a fire and enjoyed some of the prey Eywa had granted them when Jake saw how his radio blinked.

"They want something." He said to Tsu'tey in English, not wanting to alert the others too much, as he picked up the small radio.

"Jake here."

At first, static was all that came through, but then…

"Damn it… small buttons…" A female voice hissed. "Jake? You there?"

"Sarah?" He was surprised, but when thinking of it, Mo'at and Neytiri might be busy with something, and Norm would only babble and shout, so Sarah was the next logical choice when operating the radio.

"Yes, Mo'at and Neytiri are… busy…" She sounded like she whispered and tried to keep her voice down for some reason.

"Why are you whispering?" He began to get a bit worried.

"Neytiri told me to keep my voice down, something has happened."

Both Tsu'tey and Jake stiffened and the other males around noticed and the talking around the campfire died down.

"RDA is back? _Palulukan_ invasion? What?" Jake held his calm until he really knew what had happened.

"No, we have other visitors… another clan." A gasp and a shuffle were heard as Sarah probably shifted from her hiding spot.

"Sarah? What clan?" Jake sounded urgent to know and the other hunters were on point, waiting for their Olo'eyktan's command.

"I don't know, okay. Neytiri pushed me to Mo'at's place and told me to contact you, and stay hidden. Since you, the _Olo'eyktan_, isn't here, they might not look at me nicely, as they lost quite a few in the War." Her voice was strained, telling the few males who understood English, that she was scared. The visitors could kill her, if they were on that mood.

"What about Norm?" Jake was worried for his friend.

"He fought with them on the ground apparently, so he's cool, for now."

"_Female. Listen to me."_ Tsu'tey took the radio from Jake, talking to Sarah in his 'teacher' voice might make her focus more. "_Did the clan come on ikran or pa'li?"_

"_They came on pa'li. Many pa'li."_ She said softly, her voice actually sounded less frenzied now, but it still had an edge to it.

"_Can you see the leader? He or she is the one most decorated._"

"_Wait."_

They heard the shuffling of her feet, trying to get closer to a window of something to see better from.

"_Eh… there is one male, he has a big staff in his hand, and his loincloth is bright red and orange, with many beads on the belt and a bigger shoulder guard than the others. And he has a, oww… that had to hurt…"_ She whispered.

"_A what?"_ Tsu'tey urged.

"_A stick or needle, through his nose."_

Tsu'tey flinched in realization, the only Clan leader he knew of with a stick through his nose, was _Akwey_, the Leader of the Horse Clan. Looking to Jake with graveness in his eyes he said.

"_We need to return Home, Olo'eyktan."

* * *

_

**Authors note:** I know it's the shortest chapter so far, but I felt that it was a good place to stop, love my cliffhangers. Now you are thinking, why are they there, what do they want? You'll know, in a few days.

In the mean time, you can give me your thoughts of why they are there; maybe you have a better reason than I do. :P if you give me a better idea than my current one, you get to read the finished chapter a whole day before everybody else. Nice huh? I just came up with that ;)

See ya!

ps. what do you think of the interaction between Tsu'tey and Sarah so far? good progress, too slow, too fast? ds.


	5. Visitors

**Disclaimer:** Don't own, never will, sadly.

**Authors note:** As no one of you came with your input about to as why the other clan came for a visit, I used the one I had planned out. :P

Some cute fluff in this chapter, not much, but it's a start…

Enjoy,

Lunatic.

* * *

Chapter 5 – Visitors

* * *

Jake and Tsu'tey rode in front of a group of warriors, urging their _pa'li_ to go as fast as they could in the somewhat dense jungle. They had left three hunters to guard their newly acquired food supply, promising to be back at nightfall with their _ikran_ to fly home with the meat.

It had been roughly two hours since the radio call from Sarah and they should be back within a half an hour, hoping nothing stopped them between here and the tree.

Jake knew Neytiri and Mo'at could handle the situation, most likely, Akwey had come to see him about some clan matter, and then he would wait patiently for his arrival. So he wasn't worried for their sake, it was what Tsu'tey had told him about the ferocity of the _Olo'eyktan_ of the Plains.

"_He joined us in the War because he wanted to stop the Sky People before they came too close to his Home, too close to his family. He don't like strangers at all, he tolerates Normspellman just because he turned his weapon on his own people, but if he feels like it, your friend and his sister could be killed, just because he deems them a threat to the Na'vi population."_

So, if Akwey thought Norm and Sarah to be a threat, they could be dead before they came Home.

"Jake?" The radio buzzed to life and he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"Yes, you okay?"

Tsu'tey came up to his side, while riding, to hear the conversation better. He had been lost in his thoughts since they began the journey back to Hometree. He had seen the viciousness when Akwey killed someone; he was most brutal, sometimes torturous when ending a life. Always cutting off the queue of the one he killed first, then plunging his knife into the heart.

When he had heard the female's scared voice and figured out which clan leader that had come to the village, he had felt something in the pit of his stomach and imagined to return and seeing the village in ruins and to find the female lying on the dirty ground, slaughtered, her queue laying next to her, cut off from her head. He wished that he never would see that image come to be reality.

"Just stiff of sitting still too long. A scout came down a few minutes ago, saying that he saw you coming from the south-east."

Sarah hoped they would come soon, so she could get out from this dimly lit room. But as long as she was kept alive, she would not complain too much.

"Yeah, we see Hometree now, so another twenty minutes or so. Anything happened?"

"Not really, they have been given some food and they're listening to Ninat and her friends singing. So it's peaceful, for now. Though Akwey tensed up when he heard you guys were close."

Jake couldn't help but smirk about that bit of info, he really hoped Akwey said what he wanted and then left his Clan alone.

"Odd… I have three _Atokirina_ with me now; they came in through the opening and… shit…"

Her voice was cut off and it sounded like the radio fell to the ground and a shout was heard, but not from Sarah.

"_A female dream-walker, in the nest of the Tsahìk?"_ A surprised dark male voice boomed over the radio and both Jake and Tsu'tey could hear the shuffling of feet, trying to get away.

"_No, let go."_ Her voice sounded frantic and a strangled scream of pain emanated over the radio. "_Oww, let go of my queue…"_ A gasp of pain and struggling sounds was the last they heard before the radio couldn't pick up anymore sounds.

Jake cursed and urged on his horse even more, Tsu'tey yelled to the warriors to do the same, hoping they would be Home in time.

* * *

Sarah struggled against her captor, trying to make him let go of her queue, when he pulled hard enough to make her lose vision for a moment, she calmed herself and began to growl and hiss at him instead.

"_Olo'eyktan, I found this alien in the nest of the Tsahìk."_ He said proudly as he came up to his leader.

The Clan of the _Omaticaya_ gasped in horror when they saw how their newest member was dragged like a dead piece of wood over the ground towards the _Olo'eyktan_ of the Plains. They knew of his dislike of Sky People and hoped their own _Olo'eyktan_ and best Warrior would be here soon.

"_Tsahìk, I did not know you housed aliens in your nest."_ Akwey glanced to Mo'at and smirked.

"_She has Eywa's approval."_ Mo'at said calmly, looking at her daughter and shaking her head slightly to stop her from defending her friend from harm at this point.

"_Is that so?"_ He looked at the alien female, dressed as a Na'vi female, but not quite looking like one.

Akwey looked at the female with disdain, rising from his seat, he walked up to one of his most trusted, and vicious, warriors; _Kerusey'itan_, Dead Son, who had been thrown out by his family, but taken in by the Horse Clan. Said warrior was the one who had found Sarah, when following the three _Atokirina_ to Mo'at's nest. He was now holding her queue firmly, ready to pull out his knife and cut it off, if his _Olo'eyktan_ ordered it.

"_Look at me."_ Akwey demanded, nodding to Kerusey'itan to raise her head up, facing him.

Sarah felt how the big brute pulled her queue downwards; making her first shift to her knees and then lifting her head up towards the sky, looking at needle-face.

The Clan leader of the Plains was surprised of the fierceness he saw in the female's eyes. She stared at him with a mix of anger, fear and confusion, still trying to get away from his warrior.

"_Why are you here, alien?"_ He reached out his hand, and though Sarah tried to pull away, he still touched her face, feeling if she felt the same as the real females of Pandora.

"_To become Omaticaya."_ She hissed and shook her head, trying to make him stop touching her. She even tried to get up on her feet, but the warrior behind her pushed her down without any consideration.

"_Why do you think Eywa wants an alien like you among Her children?"_ His voice was filled with disapproval and he looked at her like she was a true _skxawng_ to really think that Eywa wanted someone like her to become a part of the Na'vi.

"_Ask Her yourself." _She shifted her eyes upwards, making him look up. A few _Atokirina_ slowly floated down towards them, avoiding Akwey when he reached for one, five of them landing silently on Sarah's forehead, tickling her lightly, but also comforting her.

"_You see, leader of the Plains, Eywa has approved of this child as Hers."_ Mo'at said almost gleefully and Neytiri grinned to the shocked warriors of the Plain.

The _Omaticaya_ breathed out and smiled to the sound of several _pa'li_ approaching fast. Their _Olo'eyktan_ had returned.

* * *

Tsu'tey had his breath caught in his throat the last ten minutes before they reached Hometree. He had a really bad feeling that something had happened when they had found the female in her hiding place.

He kept imagining a bloodbath, with her lying in the center of all destruction. Why did Eywa make him see these horrible pictures, was she trying to tell him something?

Preparing for the worst, he followed Jake into the tree, galloping angrily towards the Clan who had made an unannounced visit.

The first thing they saw when entering the tree, was Akwey and one of his warriors, who held a firm grip on the female's queue, standing and looking surprised over something, and a bit startled to see the group of warriors coming in high speed into the center of the tree. The warriors of the _Omaticaya_ surrounded the area efficiently, their _pa'li_ snorting and neighing loudly to scare the intruders.

"_Akwey of the Plains, release the female._" Jake shouted as he rode closer to the center and towered over him on his horse. Then Jake saw the _Atokirina_ on Sarah's head, lying there comfortingly.

Tsu'tey rode up behind Kerusey'itan and tapped his shoulder with his spear.

"_You heard our Olo'eyktan, release the female."_

Looking to his leader, Kerusey'itan saw the small nod and let her go, pushing her down on her hands as well.

Tsu'tey frowned and made his horse take a few steps closer to the female, reaching down his spear towards her.

Sarah felt like someone had pricked a thousand needles in the base of her skull when the brute let go of his grip. Her whole queue ached, and her head spun when she tried to get her bearings. She saw a spear being held out next to her, and she vaguely recognized it as a friendly one, but not who it belonged to. Grabbing hold of it, she got help to rise on her feet, and then a strong hand took hold of her arm and pulled her up on a _pa'li_'s back. She grabbed hold of the rider's waist and closed her eyes, feeling safe for the first time today.

It felt good. Really good to have her sitting behind him, holding on to him and he felt how she relaxed, trusted him completely.

He was surprised when his mind decided to lift her up behind him, but as soon he had done it, it felt like he was supposed to do so. A part of him felt responsible for her, wanting to keep her safe. Feeling her warm breath on his back, he asked Txepvi to walk gently towards Mo'at, who waved him over.

"_Make her drink this. It will ease the pain in her queue and her skull."_ Mo'at handed him a small hip flask made of animal skin, containing some kind of liquid.

Taking it, he urged Txepvi to leave the tree, and head for a clearing just outside, where it should be calm enough for them to be until she felt better.

"_Dismount."_ He said softly and felt her release the hold she had around his waist. Backing slightly, like she had learnt, she swung her right leg over, between them and slid down to the ground, feeling how wobbly her feet still were, she leaned against Txepvi's side.

Tsu'tey jumped off, disconnecting his queue and turned to the female, who stood and had a pained expression covering her face.

"_Mo'at wants you to drink this."_ He reached out the small flask to her, which she took with shaking hands.

"I need to sit." She switched to English; it hurt too much to think in Na'vi. Walking a few meters, she sat down on a fallen log and leaned against the tree behind it, it formed an excellent, but hard, couch.

Opening the flask, she smelled it and frowned at the foul smell. Mo'at must have found the smelliest plants for this concoction. Pinching her nose shut, she put the flask to her lips and drank all in one go. Feeling the equally foul taste when she had drowned all the contents of the flask, she coughed and hoped that she wouldn't throw up.

"Jesus…" She muttered and was about to pull her hand over her head, but felt something feathery sit on her forehead. The _atokirina _still remained, and she hadn't noticed. Caressing them lightly, she let her hand fall.

She then looked up at Tsu'tey, her eyes, to him, glittered again, they hadn't when he had seen her on the ground, held harshly by that _skxawng_ warrior.

"_Thank you, Tsu'tey."_ She said gratefully, giving him a soft smile.

"_I told you to stay out of trouble, female."_ He said defensively, huffing slightly.

Sarah frowned at him and rose in haste.

"_Skxawng! If you really think I put myself in that position, you are wrong!"_ She yelled, making the _atokirina_ lift from her head and float away in the wind.

While staring angrily at Tsu'tey, she felt how the pain crept back up her queue and enveloping her skull. Lifting her hands to hold her skull, it really felt like it would fall off; she stumbled backwards and sat down hard on the log.

"Okay… no screaming…" She murmured to herself, holding her head down, resting her elbows on her knees. A presence to her left made her lift her head slightly and saw Tsu'tey crouch by her side.

He didn't know why he had said so to her, it had just slipped out. Seeing her cringe in pain after she yelled at him, stumbling back to sit down roughly on the log, it made him want to ease her pain somehow. Remembering something his mother had done for him, when he had played too roughly with his friends as a child, and getting caught with his queue, feeling like it was about to be pulled out, he felt he needed to try the same on her.

Reaching out his hand, he touched her neck carefully, feeling the base of her neck and the queue's starting point in the back of her neck. That was another difference between Na'vi and dream-walkers, as Na'vi had their queue starting at the top back of their skull.

Feeling his gentle hand against her neck, she whimpered at first, the pain escalating a bit before it slowly died down with his gentle movements.

Tsu'tey settled down next to her on the log, straddling it, and gently guided her to turn around, sitting across the log too, so he could use both hands on her neck. Trying to remember the movements his mother had used, he pressed soothingly over her spine, moving downwards, following the faint marks of her bioluminescent spots, to the small of her back and then back up again, resting his hands just under her queue's starting point. Pressing his thumbs into the back of her neck, her head lolled forward and she relaxed under his touch.

Sarah could not believe him doing this willingly; he had seemed so tough all the time. But maybe, he was a real softie inside, but maybe only with the people he trusted and cared for. Wow… where had that thought come from? Cared for? Her? When he hit a very nice pressure point in her neck, her mind went blank, forgetting the erratic thought that had passed through her brain and she relaxed completely with him.

Continuing his slow and methodic massage, he smiled to himself when he saw her shoulders relax also, telling him he had succeeded with his intentions to make the pain go away. Letting one hand rest and keep pressure on her neck, he lifted his other hand and laid it gently around her braided queue. He heard her hiss at first, as he must have touched where the other warrior had held her, but he let his thumb make slow circles over the braid, feeling the long cluster of nerve threads underneath the soft hair. The hiss turned into a low whimper and then into a satisfied humming, which made him wonder what other vocal responses she could give him.

Blinking rapidly, he wondered where that thought had come from, thinking of her like that. It felt… odd, a bit uncomfortable, but not strange.

Continuing down her long braid, Tsu'tey stopped when reaching the end, seeing the delicately pink tendrils move towards him, seemingly beckoning him closer, wanting to be touched. But he ignored them, letting them fall down against her back, finishing off with a final pressure against her neck and the base of her queue.

"_Any pain?"_ He said with a much softer voice than normal.

Shaking her head, Sarah looked over her shoulder at him.

"_No, not anymore. You have magic fingers, thank you Tsu'tey…"_

Her eyes were dazed, smiling at him, showing how relaxed she was with him and with them together like this.

"Sarah!"

Norm Spellman came crashing through the bushes, efficiently interrupting the moment.

Tsu'tey rose quickly, before Norm could see him sitting so close to the female. Bonding with Txepvi, he jumped up, nodded to her and passed Norm when leaving the clearing.

"Oh God, I was so worried. I am so sorry I didn't do anything." Norm said quickly and embraced his sister, holding her close.

"It is okay, Normie… I'm okay now." She looked over his shoulder and saw Tsu'tey ride into the jungle.

* * *

After an hour, Sarah and Norm headed back to the tree, hoping the visitors had left, but unfortunately, they hadn't.

They sat around the fire; Jake, Tsu'tey, Mo'at, Neytiri, the Elders and the Horse Clan, discussing something over an early dinner. Norm walked towards them, Sarah following him.

When seeing Akwey and the big brute of a warrior, Kerusey'itan, Sarah stopped and decided to take the long way around, even though Neytiri wanted her to sit by her, but that also meant sitting across from those two and that was something Sarah didn't want right now. She shook her head in the negative to her friend.

Grabbing some food on her way passing the fire, she walked to sit with some of the children, who sat a bit away from the adults; their matters didn't concern them this time. When sitting down next to them, a few of the younger ones, who understood Sarah had been hurt, but not grasped the concept to as why, sat around her, keeping her company when eating.

Sarah felt how two of the young girls began to look her pearls and then touching them and inspecting them, since they had not seen such beads before. She smiled, feeling better already and continued to eat while the kids played with her hair.

Tsu'tey had seen her stop abruptly and shook her head when Neytiri waved her over. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw a smile grace her lips when the children came to sit with her, comforting her in their own way. He wondered what could have occurred if Normspellman had not found them, but he decided not to dwell on it, he had just begun to see her as a member of the Clan, and members took care of each other.

Looking back to Jake and listening to the conversation some more, his eyes wandered to Akwey's closest males, finding one of them staring on a point outside the gathering, in the direction of the children. Kerusey'itan was staring intently at the female who avoided sitting with them. And that irked him greatly.

In a pause of the discussion, the big warrior leaned closer to Akwey, seemingly asking him something and apparently getting the consent to leave, as he rose, excusing himself to Jake and Mo'at, walking away from the gathering area.

Following the warrior with his eyes, he nodded to one of his best men to keep an eye on the foreign male, as he himself followed his movements with his own eyes, still sitting and listening to the conversation that had started anew.

* * *

Sarah talked with the children about what they had played during their day, asking them questions about everything, leading in to the subject on which color they thought their _ikran_ would have when they grew up.

One little girl thought her _ikran_ would have black stripes, and blue and white mixed together, just like the pearls and Sarah's skin mixed prettily.

"_What will your ikran look like?"_ The little girl, _Klaxti_, asked Sarah.

Sarah thought it was fair to get that question back, so she closed her eyes and saw the _ikran_ she would ride in her mind.

"_She will have a deep purple color, with dark stripes of blue, instead of black ones, and her wings will look like they were dipped in the white foam of the sea." _She said, smiling as she pictured her life-long friend behind her eyelids.

"_I didn't know that aliens had the right to find an ikran of their own."_ A deep male voice said, sounding very disbelieving.

Snapping open her eyes, Sarah saw the big brute stand in front of her and the children, arms crossed over his chest and his face was unreadable. Not wanting to start something, he did that very well on his own, she turned to the children.

"_Go to your parents…"_ She nodded encouragingly and firmly to them, ushering them away; they should not need to witness this. When the children had left, she rose and turned to leave.

"_I am talking to you, alien."_ He said, his voice getting an angry tinge to it.

"_But I don't talk to brutes."_ She said snappishly and took a few steps towards the branches that lead up in the tree.

"_You will talk to me."_ Kerusey'itan flashed forward and grabbed hold of her upper arm this time, pulling her close, holding her lean body against his muscular one.

Gasping in shock, Sarah fisted her free hand and hit as hard as she could in his chest.

"Let me go!" She cried out in English, cursing at him in the alien language.

"_Filthy language, I will make sure you don't use it anymore when I bring you with me_." He growled and showed his teeth in a display of dominance.

Gasping in shock a second time, her eyes going wide of what he insinuated, she scowled at him, increasing her effort to get away from him.

"_I will never go with you, you… monster!"_

Kerusey'itan's demeanor instantly became darker, his grip tightened and he growled low in warning.

Sarah felt a shiver of fear go down her back; he really meant it, to take her away from the _Omaticaya_, as his personal object, or something far worse.

"_Leave the female alone."_

The cold voice was accompanied by two poison dipped arrows under Kerusey'itan's chin, as two of Tsu'tey's warriors aimed at the warrior of the Horse Clan.

Tsu'tey stood directly behind Sarah, glaring at the instigator with menacing eyes.

Sarah was really relieved that they came to her rescue, for the second time this day. Thinking back to her teen fairytale notions, maybe this counted as being saved by a prince charming? Though he really wasn't her prince charming, as he only looked out for the good of the Clan and mentally shrugging, she would have to make do with what she got, until she found her real prince.

Kerusey'itan grinned and pulled Sarah even closer, as if marking his turf somehow. Then, he let her go, pushing her in Tsu'tey's direction, who caught her and pushed her behind him in a swift movement.

"_I can wait, she will come with me, eventually…"_ He laughed, backed away and turned to rejoin his clan.

Sarah saw the tenseness in Tsu'tey's back; he was ready to pounce, to attack the other male, to stop him from hurting her. But all of that meant nothing as he turned around and glared at her with his angry eyes, as if all had been her fault.

"_You cannot keep out of trouble for more than a few hours?"_ He questioned and grabbed her arm loosely, shaking her to emphasize his point. "_He should take you with him now, just so you would be someone else's problem."_

Shock set in first, then sadness and finally anger took over. Sarah slapped him hard, scratching his cheek at the same time and twisted free of his grip.

"_I will never go with him! I would rather return to Eywa instead." _She yelled, filled with anger of the whole deal. She had no idea to as why the horse-brute would say something like that, and for Tsu'tey to suggest for her to go now.

* * *

Many of the _Omaticaya_ looked on the heated scene. Both Jake and Norm wanted to punch Tsu'tey, Neytiri wanted to cut off his manly parts.

Mo'at stood, watching; seeing some things Eywa had showed her unfold, knowing this could do good, or do something really bad. She felt sorry for the child, not knowing what had been discussed earlier, that they would exchange females and males, after their second birth, to strengthen the Na'vi and the relationship between the two clans. It was needed after a time of great distress, to begin something new, to give hope and maybe a longer peace.

Akwey's most trusted warrior had asked to have the alien female as his mate, as '_she was a challenge and a most beautiful one_'.

The Tsahìk had seen how the warrior from the Plains had looked at the child, lusting after her, wanting to dominate her, that was not the way of a true Na'vi and she hoped Eywa would intervene before it was too late.

* * *

Pushing Tsu'tey in the chest, she felt like she didn't want to see him anymore. She felt disgusted and wanted to go away from here.

Locating Norm, she stalked over to him and looked at him with determination.

"Where's your radio?"

"In my bag… but…" He stopped talking as she stopped listening to him and walked off to find his bag.

"_Sister, are you alright?"_ Neytiri came to her side and looked at her with worry.

"I will be, when I get away from here." Sarah said with a low voice.

"Leave? Why?"

"I need to think, to see if Eywa has any answers for my questions and I don't think I'll find them here, not right now…" She said sadly, feeling torn with anger and sadness, not knowing what she really felt.

Finding where Norm kept his bag, she pulled out the small radio, sighed and turned it on.

"Max?"

After a few seconds of static, Max was heard through the radio.

"Here, reading you loud and clear. What's up?" He said in a too cheery voice for Sarah's state of mind.

"I want you to disconnect my link." She said steadily, more steadily than she would have thought.

"Come again?" Max said after a while, processing her request.

"I need out, Max. Give me five minutes to lay down somewhere, okay? Neytiri will tell you when to pull me out."

"Oookay… Your choice. See you in a bit then."

Nodding to Neytiri to follow her, the two went up in the tree, going to were Sarah's hammock was located.

"He is stupid to say like that to you." Neytiri said, laying her hands on Sarah's shoulders and looking into her sad eyes.

Trying to strangle a sob, Sarah felt how a few tears slipped out of her eyes, rolling slowly down her cheeks.

"I am just another female, nothing else. If I left, maybe the clan would be better off." She knew it was madness to talk like that, but it really felt like Tsu'tey blamed her for everything that had happened today. Even though he had been nice to her, for a few moments at least.

Neytiri embraced her, holding her close, comforting her and letting her go after a few moments.

"Talk with Eywa, ask her for something to guide you with. She'll know what to do."

"Thank you. I'll be back in a day or two, or I'll contact you." She hugged Neytiri again and then slid down in her hammock. Closing the hammock over her, she closed her eyes and nodded.

"Maxpatel, take her."

A slight twitch in the body was all that Neytiri could see when she had spoken into the radio and she turned it off, going back down to join her clan.

* * *

In Hells Gate, unit four slowed down, the coffin coming out and was opened by a very confused Max.

"A few hours early, what's the occasion…?" He greeted as he saw Sarah sit up hastily. But his voice died down when he saw her face twisted in anger.

"Fuck!" She screamed and got up from the bed, walking out of the link room with angry steps.

Max and his two assistants looked at each other. Something had apparently happened to the normally cheerful woman. And it didn't sound like something good.

* * *

**Authors note:** So, what did you think? Tsu'tey is deep in the shit or what? And the warrior from the other clan, what do you think of him? Taking her away from the Omaticaya?

Did you like the cute, somewhat fluffy scene? Or was it too much, too early? From my perspective, it has been about two months since they met, give or take some days.

Will Sarah return to her Avatar body?

That and much more you will find out later :P

Please review!


	6. Hells Gate

**Disclaimer:** Don't own, never will, sadly.

**Authors note:** So, I'm guessing you guys liked the last chapter, with some fluffy goodness ;) This time, no fluff, just mostly serious stuff and a meeting.

This chapter focuses only on Sarah, no Tsu'tey thoughts at all. He'll have his own chapter next time. :P

Enjoy,

Lunatic.

* * *

Chapter 6 – Hell's Gate

* * *

After taking a long shower, cleaning her body completely with some very nice shampoo and soap left by someone who returned to Earth, which had been found when they had gone through all the rooms and personal lockers existing at the base.

She even shaved her legs, loving the silky smooth feeling, which she had all the time in her Avatar body as the Na'vi had only hair on their head, the tip of their tail and their eye lashes.

Dressing in clean clothes; soft velvet pajama pants and a simple white top, she let her wet locks fall freely over her shoulders and stepped out of her room, wearing simple flip-flops to finish off her before-I-go-to-bed outfit.

Sarah headed down the hallway, sniffing out the scent of chicken teriyaki being cooked in the mess hall. She was so hungry, haven't fed her human body for more than twelve hours, she felt a bit ravenous to say the least.

Loading up a big pile of chicken teriyaki and vegetables, she sat down at the same table as Max, Gina and Rogan, all three glancing at her, but not saying anything. They continued to glance at her, so much it became annoying.

"I'm gonna eat, sleep until at least noon tomorrow and then I will tell you what happened and why I screamed 'the f-word' when I got out from the link." She said with a dark voice, glaring at her co-workers, who nodded and turned back to their conversation.

Eating up her dinner, she left after about an hour, listening to the conversations, getting updated on what they had been doing in Hells Gate during the days she was in the Village with the _Omaticaya_.

When she normally returned for the night, she ate a late dinner, even though her mind told her she felt full from the Na'vi meal and that she was really starving. Having two bodies really confused her mind when it came to food. After dinner, she showered and went to bed. Then she got up early, so she would be on time for the morning meal with the Clan, but before she linked up, she drank two nutrition drinks, to tide her human body over the day, so her body could endure the day when she was linked.

It felt weird knowing that she wouldn't go into the link the next morning, on her own decision. It felt good to have a pause, to step away for a while from her other reality, but still, she wanted back as soon as possible, knowing her friends would worry when she didn't join them for the morning meal.

But she couldn't go back yet, not when he was such an ass, and the possibility that the Horse Clan still was with them. One thing she could count on though when being away from her Avatar; no one would move her body without her will. So she was safe from getting transported to the plains in the arms of the violent brute.

Something her Na'vi life had inflicted on her was the habit of sleeping with almost without a thread on her body, save for her underwear and a loose top. Before she was really a prude and slept in pants and a t-shirt, but now, she felt less ashamed of her body and didn't feel the need to cover it up.

Starting to feel more like a Na'vi than a human, she felt scared for losing her humanity, the part of her that was the starting point of all this. It felt like her Avatar body was becoming more and more the real body and her human form was the clone, the copy she used to house her mind in when she needed too.

So many thoughts rushed through her mind as she lay down between the white sheets and the fluffy comforter, also taken from someone who returned to Earth, making it really hard to fall asleep. She blanked out eventually, but not after she had tossed and turned for at least three hours.

* * *

"So… how much do you want to know?" Sarah sat down backwards on a chair, resting her arms on the back piece and looking at her friends, Max, Gina and Rogan sitting opposite of her, on a chair each, wanting to hear to as why Sarah had come out early and screamed 'fuck' when doing so.

"What do you think? All of it." Gina said and leaned forward on her chair.

Seeing the males nod in confirmation, she sighed and began telling her story.

"So, yesterday lunch, one of our scouts came down, telling us that some visitors from another clan approached, closing in fast on _Pa'li_ barely giving us any time to prepare anything. Well, I couldn't prepare anything as Neytiri showed me in the direction of Mo'at's nest, where the radio was kept, telling me to stay down or I might be killed. She told me to contact Jake, who conveniently was on a hunting trip with Tsu'tey and the other experienced hunters/warriors."

Seeing she got them hooked, she continued to tell them how she contacted Jake, how scared she was, 'cause those other warriors looked like they could take her and snap her in half like a toothpick.

"Jake and the others were about, I don't know, fifteen-twenty minutes away from Home, when I look up to see three _atokirina _float in through the long bead drapes that is the door, and after them comes this big, broad warrior brute, who is as surprised to see me as I am to see him. He sees that I am not a true Na'vi, grabs my queue and hauls me out through the doorway, shouting at his leader, the male with the stick through his nose, that he had found an alien pet in Mo'at's nest."

She touched her neck subconsciously, almost feeling the pain once more emanating through her skull, neck and braid.

"Be glad he didn't cut it off, then you would never be able to link with anything again." Rogan said, wincing and also rubbing his neck.

"Yeah, I've been counting my blessings all day." She said, shaking the feeling off of her. "Anyway, the leader of the Horse Clan, Akwey, questioned my reasoning to be here and I told him I was on my way to be an _Omaticaya_, and he then wondered why Eywa would accept someone like me."

"What did you answer?" Max asked, still not quite believing Eywa really existed, but the whole thing with the War and all… Who knew?

"I didn't know what to say, but while I was on my knees, the brute pulling my queue so hard, I saw something come down from above: it was some _atokirina_ and I said 'Why don't you ask her yourself?' and made him look up. He saw them and they floated down between us and landed on my head, holding on to strands of my hair, as if they dared him to hit me. If he did, then he would probably go to the Pandoran version of hell, I guess." She shrugged and remembered the feeling when the small spirits landed on her forehead. It was like they soothed her, saying that everything would be alright.

"And…? What did he do?" Gina pressed.

"He just stared at the seeds on my head, and then came Jake and his warriors, surrounding us, and I was pushed unceremoniously to the ground. And my braid hurt like hell. Mo'at gave me a very nasty brew, but it helped and I was okay after that."

'_More than okay…_' She thought, thinking on the soft massage Tsu'tey had given her, helping her and caring for her, for a short moment.

"But if you were okay, why did you want to get out from the link early?" Max looked very confused, and so did the other two. It didn't add up; if she was safe, then it was no reason to go back early.

"Well… we had an early dinner and I sat with the children instead of sitting too close to the brute, who sat not so far from Mo'at and Neytiri and the other warriors to be, where I usually sit. And he came up to me, asking why an alien would have any right to get an _ikran_. I started to walk away, he yelled he was talking to me, I said I was not and he grabbed my arm, pulling me to him, hissing that I would talk to him." She felt so angry when thinking how he assumed she would be timid and compliant.

"Then I swore in English at him, yelling at him to let me go. He then said that the language was ugly and that when he took me with him, he would never let me speak it again."

Her three friends looked shocked when she said that. A possessive Na'vi was rarely heard of, and the 'taking a woman' even rarer.

"What do you mean 'take you with him'?" Gina exclaimed.

"I don't know really, as his slave? His mate? I have no idea…" She never really asked why the idiot warrior had claimed to take her with him

"Maybe I know…" Max said, thinking. "Grace said something about clans exchanging males and females, if their number is low, like after a war, to prevent cross-breeding in the clan."

"It would make sense…" She said, thinking about it. Maybe it was that they had discussed when she sat with the children.

"How did you get out of his grip?" Rogan asked, knowing Na'vi warriors to be sometimes exceedingly strong.

"I was saved, again… By Tsu'tey and two of his warriors who held arrows under his chin. So he let me go, but not until he rubbed against me like some cat marking his turf." She shuddered and made a disgusted face. "Then Tsu'tey basically said that I was only trouble and that I could go with the other warrior immediately, so I wouldn't be his problem anymore. I snapped then and slapped him hard, telling him that I would rather commit suicide than go with that warrior. Then I came here."

Gina looked like a light just went on in her mind; she stared at Sarah very intently.

"You like him."

"Who?" Sarah was not following her pattern of thought.

"Tsu'tey."

"That moron, the teacher devil from hell that gets me up at an ungodly hour to make me run through the jungle and back, and tells me to be faster, to ride better and to not waste his time, that Tsu'tey?" She had gotten up from the chair, her voice raised quite a bit.

Gina knew they hadn't been friends long, and with Sarah just eating with them, almost never staying long enough to chat, they would technically just be co-workers or acquaintances, Gina felt that she maybe hadn't the right to point out this to the younger woman. But as Sarah didn't really have anyone else to talk to, it should be her and not one of the lab technicians who didn't know squat about being in another body and living another life so to speak.

"Boys, get out." She pointed at the door and the two men complied without too much fuss.

Sighing, Gina turned to the almost fuming young woman.

"I know we're not best friends or anything like that yet. But you have the option to either talk to me, crazy flower lady, or the lab techs who don't know shit about being inside an Avatar body. So, who'll it be?"

"Fine. I was so angry with him, telling me to go with the brute, wanting me out of his hair. I mean, come on, I have tried so hard for the last two months, I can almost ride on my own, I am stronger in my arms, so I can pull back the bow string without trembling anymore and I know about Na'vi etiquette and customs. I don't know what he wants from me."

"You've been trying to please him, make him 'See' you?" Gina questioned.

"Yes, if we're not training, he never looks at me and… oh shit…" She caught herself, realizing what she had said. "I'm trying to make him notice me… it's like fucking high school again, with me trying to get Kyle to see me instead of the bimbos that always were hanging over him."

"Ignore Kyle, focus on Tsu'tey."

"I'm falling for him, maybe, no, that can't be true. He's a stick-in-the-mud, a Na'vi with something sour shoved up his ass, who only laughs when I fall off the horse and make the bowstring hit my arm, telling me what a _skxawng_ I am and that I'll never be a warrior or hunter."

"Let me tell you something. My best friend, Anna, she's still on Earth, reminds me of you a bit. She had this kind of relationship with a guy; he made her so angry sometimes, telling her off, calling her a moron and so on. They grew up together, neighboring children and all that. She told me that every time she went on a date with some other guy, he was always there, ruining it for her; he never left her alone. One night, after one of those dates, she had stalked off, leaving her date and her constant thorn in her side behind. She took a shortcut, good one to take at daytime, but not in the evenings. She was attacked, but saved before she was about to be raped, guess by who?"

Sarah tried to keep up with Gina's fast storytelling and guessed.

"The guy she went on a date with?"

"Nope. The thorn in her side. He beat the fucking daylight of those who dared touch her, lifted her up and carried her home to his place, patched her up and slept on his own couch that night."

"Happily ever after ending next morning?"

"You'd wish." Gina laughed. "The next morning she was kicked out and he told her to wear flats next time, so she could run away from molesters."

"Your point is…?"

"Oh, I was coming to that. When I left Earth six years ago, that happened just before I left. When I got here, I had a message waiting from her. She and her thorn had gotten married, with one girl of two and another child waiting to be born any minute. About a year after I left, she was about to move to another town, when he came over to talk, kissed her and confessed that he had always loved her, but thought she saw him as the boy next door and never made a move."

"And you're telling me this story because…?"

"I think Tsu'tey reminds me of my friend's husband. He has a strong exterior, knowing that it's important to be strong and tough, but when it comes to females, he's out of his home field, not really knowing how to show her how he feels about her without looking weak in front of the others. That's why, I think, he push you away; he don't know how to handle those feelings for you."

"So if you're saying that Tsu'tey is in love with me, then you have to be kidding me." Sarah shook her head. "Even if it was true, I doubt he would mate with me when I do the final rite of passage. When I am 'legally' allowed to mate the man who chooses me."

"I'm just saying, I think he likes you, maybe even loves you, but don't know it yet." Gina said with determination, nodding to Sarah and felt they had become a little bit closer friends.

* * *

After the girl-talk with Gina, Sarah had wandered around inside the big base, somehow ending up in the Ops Center, with a few techs sitting and looking over the monitors for activity from Earth.

Recognizing a few of them, she nodded hello and looked around on the different screens. One big console in the middle woke her curiosity and she walked up to it.

It was the big map viewer, which could give you the topography of any place on Pandora.

"Can I look at something with this?" She asked a man sitting closest to her.

"Sure, love." A British accent came over his lips and he smiled at her. "What do you wish to see?"

"The New Hometree, if I may?"

The man, in his early fifties, stepped up next to her and pressed a few buttons, and the great tree she lived in came up in front of her.

"Awesome…" She whispered and smiled, looking at the big tree, seeing where the _ikran_ rested, the pools and the entrance to their home.

"Can you show me where the Horse Clan lives? If it's marked on this map?"

"Let me see…" He pressed another button and a list of known Na'vi Clans came up. He scrolled down a bit on the list, and found; _Na'vi, Horse Plain Clan_, written and marked as 'no contact'. Pressing the coordinates listed, the map swished over the jungle, over the plains and stopping in the middle of the Great Plain.

There was a single tree, with a village around it, corrals for the horses and a river not far away. It looked so bare compared to the _Omaticaya_ tree, no jungle to climb in, no _ikran_ to fly, no nothing. And they wanted her to move there?

Geez… they could've asked her to move to the Ice land in the north instead. However, as her mother had said, more than often, 'don't judge a book by its cover', maybe it wouldn't be that bad?

Kerusey'itan could be a nice fellow, when she got to know him? Maybe she could learn to love him? Being with him might be better if her budding feelings for Tsu'tey weren't returned.

Best to quench the fire before it grew too large.

* * *

"What do you mean it won't work?"

Sarah was so frustrated; it was the sixth time the link failed to start up properly. It was very strange; she hadn't done anything differently than the other times she had linked.

"The system seems to be fine, but if it won't work after six times, I have to do a diagnostic on your link. It'll take a few hours, maybe the whole morning if we're out of fortune." Max sighed and turned off link four completely.

"I'll miss morning meal… and I'll be super hungry when I get back into my other body…" She murmured and stepped out from the link.

"If this is not fixed until lunch, we'll contact them and tell them what the problem is, and Norm has to get your Avatar something to drink at least." Max went down on his knees and pulled loose a hatch underneath the link.

"Yeah, alright… I'll… go outside for a while…" She said, leaving Max to curse over the machinery.

* * *

Putting on the restrictive exopack, she looked at the world though a bubble. Stepping out in the Avatar compound, she saw Gina and Rogan sit by an Avatar sized table and discuss something about a plant they had between them. Walking over in a leisure pace, she pulled on Gina's tail gently to give up her presence.

"What the hell…." She turned and looked down. "Oh, hi Sarah. What are you doing here?" She reached down and lifted up the small human onto the seat next to her.

"Link's messed up, we've tried six times already, but I won't transfer at all." She shrugged and pouted.

"That's very weird…" Rogan said, not being aware of that happening, ever before.

"Yep, very…" She leaned on the table and looked at the plant lying on the top of the table. "What are you up to?"

"Trying to classify this plant, but we're not agreeing one bit." Gina said, looking really frustrated.

"Have you looked in Dr. Augustine's book? She's most likely already classified it." Sarah said, looking at her two friends.

"We're trying to classify it on our own, but as we're stuck, we might as well do so." Rogan pulled up his data pad and began flipping through the images of different plants.

"Gina, wanna give me a lift down?"

The blue xenobiologist smiled and acted as a lift, before turning back to Rogan.

"So, who was right?" She saw that he had the image of the plant up on his screen. When he sighed, she understood. "I was right, wasn't I? I was right! I rock!" She yelled and was sure to tease him the rest of the day for this.

Sarah smiled at them, shaking her head at their grown childishness. She headed to the Avatar house and found a tree she liked, when first coming to Pandora, she had climbed it every day, before she joined Norm and the others back to Hometree. After a bit of effort, she got up on the lowest branch and sat down, leaning her back against the big tree and looked out over the compound, seeing the other Avatar's work, play or just hang out.

After a while, she felt the stress she had felt when she wasn't able to link take its toll and she closed her eyes and drifted off.

As soon as her eyes had closed, a dozen, or so, _atokirina _floated down from the branches above her and landed on her head and body, coming to rest with her.

* * *

_A soft wind caressed her face, feeling almost like a hand touching her gently. Opening her eyes, she saw only white, everywhere around her, white._

_Looking down, she saw no floor, no ground to walk on and she began to fall through the white. Soft pink hues passed her by, or was she falling past them? They laughed, sang and spoke in Na'vi, both old and young voices, all happy to be here._

_Slowing down, she suddenly felt how her toes touched ground and she fell to her knees in soft white grass. Everything around her took shape now, a white jungle formed around a small white river and on a small white hill, a big old white tree stood and three people sat underneath it._

_Feeling drawn to it, she rose and walked slowly to see that the people were Na'vi, all having soft blue skin, instead of her darker blue._

_Realizing that she was in her Avatar body, she was very confused, not knowing why she was dreaming this, or if it was real._

"_No, it's not real, child." One of the Na'vi said, smiling at her. He was an older Na'vi, strong face, sitting like Tsu'tey did; proudly and with a slightly air of overconfidence coming from him._

"_Right on the spot." One of the two females said, mirth glittering in her eyes, the male scoffing at her, but still smiling._

_The other female smiled too, but she had a more human face than the other two and reminded Sarah of someone she'd seen on a picture._

"_You are Grace Augustine… but you died and… am I dreaming?" Sarah was confused and sat down when the male pointed to a spot in front of them._

"_No, and yes. You're still sitting in the tree, but your spirit has gone on a dream hunt, but one that we…" Grace pointed to herself and the other two. "…wanted you to do before you go back to the New Hometree."_

"_Eytukan is very fond of the new tree you found. He's been watching over it ever since you moved in." The male said. "You can tell Mo'at that, if you remember later." He smiled mysteriously. _

"_I'm guessing you want something special, taking me here…" Sarah said, still very confused to why the two unknown and Grace wanted to speak with her._

"_We heard your thoughts before." The female said gently and looked at Sarah with concern. "About moving to the Horse Clan with Kerusey'itan." She frowned a bit when she said his name, as if she really didn't like him._

"_Yeah, then I would be less trouble for the Omaticaya…" Sarah looked down at her hands, feeling sad._

"_Less trouble for Tsu'tey, you mean…" The male's gentle voice got her to look up, and see him very close, he was now sitting in front of her, looking straight into her eyes, trying to make her See._

"_Well, yes, I can't ride, can't hunt and he literarily runs around in circles around me, yells at me and tells me I'm no good as a hunter. I have tried for two months now, and I feel like giving up. So maybe I can learn better with someone else." She said softly, still looking into the male's eyes, who reminded her of someone._

"_I felt like that too about my teacher." The female said and sat down next to Sarah, touching the small braids with the white pearls. "He yelled at me; I could not stay on the horse, I could not shoot, I could not hunt and I was useless to the Clan. I was like you; young, frustrated and feeling like my teacher had squashed me with a rock."_

"_What did you do?" Sarah began to relax, feeling safe with them, like having a mother and father close, just holding you._

"_I moved away for a few months, to see my relatives in another clan and get away from him for a while, to think." She sighed and moved her hands to Sarah's neck and began to knead the muscles there soothingly. "And I met another male in my relative's clan, he was very interested in me and helped me to ride the pa'li without falling off, to shoot with my bow and he taught me with patience, not yelling."_

"_Did you mate him?" Sarah found herself asking, hoping she wasn't too rude._

"_I was going too, but Eywa sent my mother to speak with me, just like we speak to you now. My mother told me that a young Omaticaya warrior grieved me and wanted me to return, but he had not the courage to come and get me, in case I refused him. He had apparently spoken to Eywa through the Tree of Voices, begging her to make me return to him. I thought about it for a few days, and decided I would give him a chance, to see if he had changed during the months I had been gone."_

_Sarah was really intrigued of this story, it felt similar to hers ongoing one, and she began to consider staying with the Omaticaya._

"_Had he? Changed, I mean." She looked over her shoulder, seeing the beautiful Na'vi female smile at her. She had her whole hair braided, with blue and green beads in them, and a pretty green stone sitting in a leather band on her forehead, almost the same color Sarah had on her arm bracelet she had gotten from Neytiri._

"_Well, I didn't notice anything when I returned, I think he was too shocked to see me back and he didn't approach me for a few days. But then he came and talked to me, when I was practicing my archery, which was really better than it had been. He asked if my relative had trained me, but I told him it was a warrior in my age who had, and that he had been really patient with me." She laughed then, remembering that talk._

"_He was so angry, thinking I had gone and mated with someone that wasn't him. He stalked off, his heart broken and went to sulk somewhere in the jungle. When he came back to his hammock, he found my most precious necklace lying there, with white and green stones; I had gotten it from my grandmother when I was young. I think he understood then, did you?" She turned to the male sitting in front of Sarah and he was touching said necklace that sat around his neck._

"_I did, and I was very happy then. We mated two days later." He said, winking at Sarah._

_Suddenly she saw the resemblance, the dark yellow eyes and the proud and overconfident male he was…_

"_You're Tsu'tey's parents…" She whispered and didn't understand why they wanted to speak with her; they should speak with Tsu'tey, as it was his parents._

"_We are Ateyo and Tse'rina, and we want to make sure you don't go with Kerusey'itan when you have bonded with your ikran. Your faith is in the sky, together with your mate." Ateyo said seriously._

"_And I'm guessing, now that you're sitting here, that Tsu'tey is my mate?"_

"_Yes, he will balance you, as you will balance him. He is like his father, fond of yelling and sometimes pushing away those he love so they will be safe. But the comment he made that you should go to the Horse Clan…" Tse'rina shook her head so the beads in her hair clinked together. "That was from fear; he was scared that you would choose to go with the horse warrior, so he lashed out at you."_

"_I wish I could have slapped him harder…" Sarah muttered._

"_That was good of you, slapping some sense in that boy. He sure needs it." Grace cut in, wanting to slap him herself a few times for those times he had ridiculed her._

"_I understand somewhat why they are here, but not you Grace."_

"_I just wanted to pop by and see how you're adapting. The Avatar program is my baby and I have to look out for you guys." She smiled. "Tell Jake that he's still a Jarhead when you see him. And you should introduce La'ri to Norm." She winked conspiratorially and faded out._

"_Ma'ite, listen with your heart when it comes to Tsu'tey. And ask another warrior to teach you for a while, maybe he will come around and See you better." Tse'rina hugged Sarah close and faded she too._

_Ateyo was the last one and he rose, pulling Sarah up with him._

"_Take care of him, ma'ite…" He then also hugged her and then, he gave her a light shove backwards and she began falling, falling, falling…

* * *

_

…down in the bushes underneath the tree she had been in.

"Fucking hell… that hurt…" Lying still, she felt fuzzy after that nap, but she slowly remembered her conversation and what they said to her.

It still felt very fuzzy, the whole conversation was chopped up in pieces; she remembered that Eytukan liked the new Hometree and that Tsu'tey was like his father, but she had a big puzzle to do and many of the pieces didn't fit. However, the main thing was clear; she was not to move to the Horse Clan and she would try to change teacher for a while, maybe Neytiri would have more patience with her. She had trained Jake, and he had worked out okay.

"Sarah! We're gonna try again!" Max shouted through the com system.

Rising up and brushing off leaves, she jogged back to the complex and the link room, hoping it would work this time.

* * *

**Authors note:** If you think the 'dream' part if somewhat inconsistent in some parts, it is as it should be, as dream can be somewhat strange and fuzzy.

Otherwise, tell me what you think, and please, don't do reviews that say: '_omg pleaze update now, I need to know more!_'

The chapters are in my head and they won't come out until I sort them out and get them down on paper. Give me reviews like: '_I liked that part, and when he did that, I couldn't believe my eyes_' etc. those make me really happy and when you tell me I really surprised you, I love it the most =)

Next chapter will be about Tsu'tey reflecting his attitude towards Sarah, what would you like to see him thinking of, what should he be beating himself up about? Give me ideas, 'cause then more ideas will be born.

Lunatic.


	7. A Warriors Contemplation

**Discalimer:** Don't own, never will, sadly.

**Authors note:** Thank you for all your sweet reviews and thank you to 'Mecker' and 'Black Rose Kalli' for giving me more ideas and pushing me in the right direction, when my mind didn't want to cooperate.

This chapter was really hard to write. First, I'm not a male. Secondly, I am not seen as somewhat cold and harsh. So Tsu'tey is really hard to portray when 'the female' isn't around to screw things up :P

If you read something that sounds totally weird, please tell me, but not in the flaming way. I like it more if you say '_this part sounded strange… is it supposed to be like this or what?_' I like that better than '_omg that's not supposed to be like that, you have totally messed up with Tsu'tey. You can't write._' Believe me, I've had those reviews, but I delete them, as most people writing like that are anonymous and it's quite cowardly to do so.

Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy this story. Next chapter is already a fourth done, and Sarah is coming back to the Clan. Has she been missed? Take a guess.

Enjoy,

Lunatic.

* * *

Chapter 7 - A Warriors Contemplation

* * *

It hurt; both his cheek and his pride when he walked after Sarah and Neytiri. He wanted to try and say something, to say he didn't mean it and be back in her good grace again. But he knew it wouldn't be that easy.

He saw Sarah's friends; La'ri and Ninat, hiss at him, calling him an insensitive bastard. He didn't let that bother him as he tried to think of something to say to her.

However, seeing her and Neytiri walk up into the tree, towards her sleeping area, he somehow understood that he wouldn't be able to speak with her, not unless he hurried.

Coming up on the branches, he saw Neytiri hugging her, trying to comfort her while her body shook in sadness. Taking a step forward, Neytiri saw him and bared her teeth, warning him to come any closer. Halting his movement, he could only watch when she stepped into her hammock and closed it, closing her eyes as well. He heard Neytiri tell Maxpatel to take her and saw a tiny movement that indicated she had left her body, her soul waking up in her human body a great distance from here.

Neytiri passed him and showed her dislike by hissing and baring her teeth at him. Her tail smacked him in the back, making him flinch. He knew that many in the Clan would hiss at him today, just because he had spewed out those words at her.

The only safe place for now would be the ikran nest, he decided. But before he began to scale the big tree, he walked closer to her resting place, crouched down on the branch above and looked at her serene face. It showed him that she had cried, his harsh words had caused that.

Hearing someone coming up, he rose and jumped up, sprinting to the fastest route to the nest in the top of the tree.

* * *

Ralu cried out in greeting to his life-friend and dived down to the thick branch where Tsu'tey stood waiting. The ikran reached out his antenna and Tsu'tey lifted his automatically and felt their minds connect.

Shaking his head, Ralu felt strange feelings coming from his friend, feelings he had never felt before, not in these amounts.

'_Not happy?'_ Ralu asked.

When an ikran and Na'vi connected, they could communicate with each other, but as ikran had fewer words to use than a Na'vi, mostly using the words 'eat, sleep, attack, hunt' etcetera. Their vocabulary could develop over the years, learning how their friend spoke through the bond, few ikran spoke with the same fluidity as a Na'vi, and not many choose to speak with more words, when a few well-placed ones were more effective in the long run.

"_No, not happy. Don't know if I will be."_ Tsu'tey jumped up on Ralu's back and urged his friend to take off, fly wherever he wished to.

'_Trouble with mate?'_ Ralu asked after a while of silent flying.

"_I don't have a mate. Where did you get that idea from?"_ He was perplexed to why Ralu thought he had a mate.

'_Female that you let ride. No female before on me.'_ Ralu squawked when Tsu'tey lost concentration for a short moment.

That was true, he had never allowed another female on Ralu before, but that was just because Neytiri hadn't been able to have a passenger then, nothing else. He had only allowed males to go with him, but that had also been only short flights, no longer than to drop them into safety or so.

"_That was because Tsawke couldn't carry anyone yet. New bond."_ Tsu'tey remembered.

'S_till strong to carry two friends.'_ Ralu scoffed and flew in the direction of the large ikran nest, where he had been born and where he had met Tsu'tey.

"_Going home?"_ He smiled when he saw the floating mountains come into view and he heard the _ikran_ shrieking between them.

'_See mate.' _Ralu sounded excited and dived between some rocks that were about to collide. A thunderous crash was heard just meters behind them

"_Mate? I thought that you couldn't mate yet?"_

Ikran mated mostly with the ikran of their Na'vi rider's mate, forming a close family between them, often going out hunting and flying in general together. However, Tsu'tey didn't have a mate, so for his _ikran_ to have one, was very odd.

'_Female not mated. Will later.'_ Ralu flew around the back of the big mountain where the Na'vi found their _ikran_ and landed by a small forest that grew on the top. Tsu'tey made to get off, but Ralu raised his wings, telling him to stay put on his back.

'_Silence. Might have to fly fast.'_ His thoughts came as a whisper and he crept around some trees and ducked down in some bushes. There he edged himself closer so they could see through the bushes.

Tsu'tey carefully pushed a branch down, seeing a sort of gathering place that he had never seen before. It looked similar to where he had first met Ralu, where they had bonded for the first time.

It had a small waterfall, that lead into a pool and if he weren't mistaken, that water led to the waterfall they had to pass behind when finding their ikran. A childish shriek drew his attention and he saw a group of three tiny ikran waddle into view towards the pool and one of them jumped right in, but getting out after a short moment, turning and hissing angrily at the water.

A more adult shriek was heard and he saw several female ikran lazing about in the warm sun, still keeping an eye on the little ones. The fearsome birds looked very placid when sleeping in the sun, opening their eyes to watch their young from time to time.

A shadow came swooping down over Tsu'tey and Ralu, making them both freeze in their place, hoping they weren't discovered. The shadow was a young female, younger than Ralu it seemed as she moved to greet the small children, nudging them playfully before laying on a flat stone to watch over them while their mothers got some real rest.

'_Mate. My female.'_ Ralu sounded very possessive and made Tsu'tey look at his mate.

"_She is very beautiful."_ He said honestly. She was not like the other ikran, having dark blue stripes instead of black, which lay over a deep purple skin and the most striking about her features were that her wings looked she had dipped them in the foam of the Eastern Sea whilst flying through the waves. Her big yellow eyes were clear and alert, showing wisdom thought she was young in years; an old soul in a young body.

'_Your mate also.'_ Ralu said, his thoughts feeling a bit impishly.

"_Not my mate. Never will be."_ He said darkly, remembering how angry he had been at her.

'_Fight?_' He shifted slightly in his spot, rustling the leaves.

"_I doubt she will want to see me again."_

'_Get present, make female happy.'_

Tsu'tey scoffed at that idea. She would wonder why he had made a change of heart so sudden and probably return to the nest of the Sky People instead. Wait, why was he even thinking in those pathways?

"_The female is not for me. She'll leave soon."_ He said, feeling strange of the thought of not training her anymore. She had begun to improve, but her archery was still that of a youngling.

A loud shriek near them interrupted his thoughts and he looked out through the bushes to see Ralu's future mate come closer to their hideout.

Staring at the bushes, she poked with her nose among the leaves, scenting a male being there. Hissing and growling, she lunged forward, finding a male with a rider sitting there. Thinking the worst, she attacked them, making them move back to where they had come from.

Tsu'tey saw that this female was not to be messed with and urged Ralu to move faster. But Ralu tried to flirt with his female, cooing and puffing up his chest, showing his greatness to her. It made her pause, but she soon snapped after him and flapped her wings to make him leave this sanctuary.

Coming to the edge where they had first landed, Ralu tried to get in her grace again, but was denied once more, and a final snap of her jaws made him back off, not wanting to hurt his life-friend.

The ikran female stood there, making sure they weren't coming back, before she went back to the little ones and babysitting duty. The male had been very interesting though…

* * *

"_You crazy ikran. Want to be killed?"_ Tsu'tey bumped Ralu on the head lightly as they were flying away from the mountains.

'_Female likes me. Bring meat next time.'_ He decided and Tsu'tey hoped he wouldn't behave like that when he found his female.

* * *

On his way back to Hometree, he killed a hexapede for Ralu, giving him the whole animal to eat and maybe give to his female. Under condition that he got to keep it from the other ikran in the nest when they arrived back. Ralu solved the problem by telling Tsu'tey he would not land in the tree, but only fly close to it, so the others wouldn't, hopefully, jump at him to get the meat.

Sighing, Tsu'tey did as he was told, knowing Ralu could be really bitchy when something got between him and his food, and now it was between his future mate and food. Better not to argue.

As soon as Tsu'tey landed on the branch, Ralu took off like an arrow, back towards the large ikran nest, hoping to please his female with a gift of meat.

Shaking his head at his friend, Tsu'tey hoped he would return without any major wounds, as females could be pretty violent when they played hard to catch.

* * *

Heading down the tree, hoping it was calmer now than it had been for a few hours ago. He had only yelled at her because she was his student and friend, even though it didn't seem like that, he had a responsibility to protect her for the sake of the Clan. He didn't really wish for her to go away, but to apologize would be to go out of his way, he was not one to back down from his words. She might leave for the other clan anyway, unless a male from the Omaticaya mated her just after she passed her Iknimaya and bonded with her for life.

He scoffed at that, to bond with a _unil-tìran-tokx_, was nothing he saw in his future. It was something he didn't with for his fellow warriors to happen. That would be to go against his personal beliefs. Jakesully was an exception, but the female was not one.

However, when he thought about it, she had gone from being a pest, to his student and she started to inch her way in to become his friend and maybe going to something more. Just look at Jakesully and Neytiri, they had started out like he and the female did. Neytiri had not been very happy to train Jakesully, but it all ended up with him saving the day and Tsu'tey had willingly given a unil-tìran-tokx the responsibility of becoming Olo'eyktan instead of himself. Well, he hadn't been able to lead the Clan from his rest in the healers nest.

He had to be careful to not let the female inch her way in more. Friends were good; it only became more complicated after that.

When entering the inhabited area of the tree, he passed a few females, who sneered at him, giving him the evil eye and turned back to what they were doing without sparing him a second glance.

It got worse when he was seen by Neytiri and La'ri, who were sitting and repairing different items; the former a bow and the latter a food basket. Neither female bothered to greet him, shunning him for his cruel words to their friend.

Even Jakesully looked sourly at him, though he greeted the warrior, though shortly and adding something about humiliation was at the level of younglings in his world. And if Jakesully hadn't intervened, Normspellman would have attacked him, but it would not do her or her brother any good, as the Best Warrior of the Clan would have not accepted to be punched without retaliating.

Continuing walking out from the tree, he joined his hunters for the daily work of restocking their supplies of meat and leather.

* * *

Returning the next evening, they had to stay overnight in the jungle to properly secure all the meat they had acquired, his body tired from the hunt, he sank down in a warm pool to contemplate over the relationship he supposedly had with the female.

During the hunt, some of the younger males had said that they would possibly choose her for a mate when she passed her _Iknimaya_ in a few moons time. They thought her suited for a life bearing young ones and tending to the home, even though she would have a hunter's training.

He had asked the younger hunter if he himself would willingly agree to become a weaver and do that work for the rest of his life, if someone told him to do so. The young male had blushed and shook his head, not wanting to give up what Eywa had thought suited for him.

Tsu'tey had given the male a stare and told him to return to the hunt instead of gossiping like a female.

Dunking his head under the water, he stayed under for a moment, listening to the currents hitting the edge of the pool and feeling his tiredness seep away.

Resurfacing, he saw the feet of another stand on the shore, and he raised his eyes to meet the ones of Kiptok, the elder.

"_Hello youngling_." Kiptok greeted. "_I See you_."

"_I See you, Kiptok_." He nodded, and grumbled a bit inside when he was called 'youngling' by the Elder. However, that he was in the eyes of the older male, who had been 'old' when he was a small child. The old hunter had always called Tsu'tey 'youngling', ever since they had first met. Kiptok had been a teacher of many, also the teacher of Tsu'tey's father and their age differed with twenty-five years or so. Kiptok had also taught Tsu'tey to use his bow properly, teaching him his tricks and methods used when hunting.

"_May I join you?"_ The older Na'vi asked.

Tsu'tey motioned with his hand that he had no problem with that. The older male took off this loincloth and sank down in the warm pool while he sighed with pleasure.

"_This feels really nice. You'll know what I'm talking about when you get as old as me."_ He grinned and winked.

Tsu'tey smirked; he could not really see himself as an old male, not yet anyway.

After a time of silence, Kiptok studied Tsu'tey carefully before speaking.

"_How fares the young female's training? Any progress?"_

Sighing, Tsu'tey let his head fall back and he closed his eyes in mild frustration.

"_Better now, she gets better on the horse for each day, her aiming is approving too. But a few more moons will pass before she is reasonably close to go through the Iknimaya."_ He said honestly. "_But after what happened yesterday, I suspect she will want another teacher."_

"_Just because you looked out for her? Like I did for you from time to time?"_ Kiptok grinned, remembering several occasions the brash young warrior had rushed into things, rather than to wait patiently.

Tsu'tey groaned when he was reminded what messes he got into as a young male. Starting a herd of _angtsìk _to stampede was one of those things he accidentally had done and Kiptok had rescued him from being trampled to death.

Though the Elder had been relieved when Tsu'tey came out with only a few scratches and his bow crushed in tiny pieces, he had been angry as well and put Tsu'tey to fruit gathering with the females for one week and not being allowed to hunt for two. After that, Tsu'tey had learnt patience somewhat more.

"_She's a dream-walker; she does not understand our ways."_

"_Aren't you her teacher, youngling?"_ Kiptok looked at his former student, who in this moment needed to be taught some things.

"_She learns Na'vi traditions and ways from the females in the Village."_ He tried, meeting his teachers stare.

"_As a teacher, you have responsibility to teach your students as much as you can, not completely trust others to do so. Didn't I teach you that?"_ He looked at the younger male with an unyielding stare, one he had given many times before.

"_You did, many times…"_ He sighed in defeat and knew Kiptok was right, but to swallow his pride to say that to the female, that was something he wished he had learned.

After a while, Kiptok let his severity melt away and he looked at Tsu'tey fondly.

"_You know, the female reminds me of your mother."_

"_How so?"_ His mother had been a beautiful female; strong, loving, good huntress and wonderful rider of both pa'li and ikran, completely different from the female, who was clumsy and awkward in her movements.

"_Your mother was horrible with bow and even worse when she tried to ride a pa'li."_ Kiptok chuckled when he remembered how she had tried and tried every day, without success at first.

Tsu'tey just stared, sure, his mother had avoided the subject and just told him she was as bad as any young Na'vi, but not that she was horrible, he could almost not believe it.

"_Your father almost pulled out his queue more than a few times. He was her teacher, and he was like you; no patience with his student sometimes, but he was fair to her, letting her continue, though many teachers would have given up after a few moons. He had a reason to, he wanted her to be his, so he had to make sure she would become a hunter, even if he had to teach her the same thing over and over."_

"_I can't believe it. She was a good rider, better than the most."_

"_Believe it youngling; she became better after a few moons, when she had understood the basics. For some it takes longer time to learn, but when they do, they'll surprise you rather quickly."_ Rising from the pool, Kiptok got out and dressed.

"_Can you tell me more?"_ He had not known this about his parents at all and felt like a child, wanting to hear the story to its end, not wanting to wait.

"_Another time, youngling. It's time for me to sleep. Eywa will call for me soon, but I think I'll stay long enough to see your female tame her ikran. Then I think Eywa has waited long enough for me."_

_The old male walked away, leaving Tsu'tey to his thoughts in the warm night.

* * *

_

**Authors note:** So, was it messed up? Did I do okay? I really hoped you liked it. Please review.

*sleeping mode*


	8. Friends? & the Story of Dead Son

**Disclaimer: **Don't own, never will, sadly.

**Authors note: **So the last chapter was about the thoughts of Tsu'tey and his worries. I am glad you liked it, 'cause it was a b*tch to write. *sighs*

I have boobs = I don't know how a man would truly react to this kind of things. :P

So, chapter 8, soon it might be time for Sarah to go through with Iknimaya, or is it anything you guys would like to see happen before she does that?

Enjoy,

Lunatic.

* * *

Chapter 8 – Friends? & the Story of Dead Son

* * *

Upon returning to her Avatar body, Sarah felt very strange; her head felt wobbly and her stomach felt empty. She had never experienced returning more than 36 hours after she left her body. She was really hungry, needed something to drink as her mouth felt like cotton and she really needed to visit the little female's room, badly.

Remaining still, though her body ached to stir, turn over, anything that meant moving her still limbs. She needed to think over her 'dream' she had this morning.

Telling Mo'at about it was a given, but only the greetings from Eytukan and Grace, the other two she wanted to wait with, she felt that they came to see her personally and what they said was for her ears only, until the time felt right to tell Tsu'tey about them. Their conversation were still a bit fuzzy, she felt like she mixed up some things and her mind needed to sort everything out by itself first.

Thinking of what his parents had said, about asking for another teacher didn't feel right with her. So much time he had spent on her, even if she were, in some cases, a lost cause, he earned her respect and trust actually. She figured he had looked out for her as a student and a friend, even if they had not voiced that fact between them, confirming they really thought each other as a friend. That she had to tell him and also that she understood his anger that day, having strangers in the village, threatening his clan sister and student, must have made him lost his usual restrained self and lashed out at her, when she had just fallen under the circumstances and accidentally drawn the attention from the brute. She had most defiantly not wanted to be chosen to go with that skxawng anywhere.

And then Gina had butted into her thoughts, saying that in some possible level (Gina's fantasies) she was even in love with the Omaticayan warrior. Sure, he seemed to be every single female's dream male, since he too was single. But she had not any plans to take it that far. Friends were the best option here. Friends were safe and friends could take care of each other, without having to add romance into the picture.

Hearing hushed voices behind and above her, she slowly opened one eye, seeing some fuzzy figures sitting on the branch above her, which held her hammock. When her one eye could see more clearly, she opened the other one, a few happy gasps came from her 'guardians' and they spoke excitedly among themselves.

Stretching her body, arching her back leisurely, she touched the edge of her hammock, making it open to release her. Sitting up, she turned around to sit on her knees and face her audience.

"_I See you children. What time is it?"_ She asked, smiling at them, seeing that they missed her. She knew what time it was, but didn't need all the questions they would attack her with just yet.

A chorus of '_I See you_' came in return and a few of them began to talk at once, but a few of the older ones hushed the younger and answered her that it was time for the 'noon meal' for those still in the village.

"_We missed you, big sister. Why did you sleep for so long? I have never slept that long."_ And several more questions were asked, since they didn't really understand the Avatar concept, even if the adults had tried to explain dream-walking to them.

"_I missed you too. I was really tired and I needed to sleep, little ones."_ She rose into a crouch and jumped up to grab hold of a branch above her, swinging over with ease now, to land next to the children, who immediately attacked her, hugging her legs and one little boy grabbed on to her tail.

"_Not that hard, Tapi…"_ She said gently, looking over her shoulder to see him losing his grip a bit. "_Thank you."_

"_Big sister, you won't leave us again, right?"_

"_Not until Eywa wants me to." _She said, patting their heads, melting when they looked at her with their big innocent eyes. Her stomach suddenly made a loud protest for being without food for so long. The children laughed about that and poked her empty stomach.

"_Let's go eat, I'm really hungry."_ She urged them, watching them rush downwards, but Tapi held her tail, not letting go, clearly wanting to make sure she wouldn't leave. "_Want to hold my tail or be carried?"_

Silently, Tapi got closer and reached up his tiny arms to be lifted. Bending down, Sarah lifted him up on her hip, feeling him rest his head on her shoulder and snuggle close. He was a cute one, not speaking so often, though he was around three or four years old. He had an affinity of grabbing tails, no one minded, but he seemed to enjoy when one moved the tail in front of him slowly, letting his small hands try to catch it.

Walking down the branches, she heard the children scream to the others that she was back and had awoken from her sleep. Hoping no one was mad at her for being gone for so long, even if her body had been there, she walked down the spiraled stairway and smiled when she was greeted by the clan.

* * *

Tsu'tey sat with Jake and discussed which younglings that were ready, or almost ready to go through with the Iknimaya, when at least five children came rushing down from the tree, silly with happiness, screaming that their big sister was awake.

He looked up to see Neytiri smile where she sat and she wasted no time to get up on her feet and move closer to the spiraled stairway the female would come down from.

When she came into view, she had the hunter _Amik's_ son on her hip, carrying him like one of the mother's of the clan. She looked very natural with the child on her hip, his head tucked in against her shoulder, cuddling close to her for comfort.

"_Sister, you are back. Had a good sleep?"_ Neytiri came up and hugged her, tickling the little boy under his chin, making him smile.

"_Yes, though I had strange dreams, good, but strange."_ She said, hugging her back.

Neytiri looked at Sarah, seeing that she meant what she said. It got the future Tsahìk curious and she suspected that maybe Eywa had something to do with her sister's dreams.

"_Do you wish to visit mother?"_

"_Later, I am so hungry; I haven't eaten in almost two days."_ She looked really distressed and eyed the food Neytiri hid from view, wanting to eat until she was going to burst.

Neytiri chuckled and smiled, taking Sarah's free arm and led her to where she had been sitting. Pushing down the female, she gave her fruit and meat on a leaf plate.

A male hand to her right placed a cup with water in front of her. She turned to see Tsu'tey withdraw his hand from the cup.

"_Thank you, teacher." _ She nodded to him, and then she said for his ears only. "_May I speak to you later? After I've visited Mo'at?"_

"_I am teaching younglings to blend into the jungle, you know where. Find me."_ He said, agreeing to talk to her later.

He saw how she turned back to Neytiri and Jake, who wanted to know how everything was back in Hells Gate. He felt apprehensive about their talk, and though he would never admit it, he felt a tiny bit of fear for her to tell him that she didn't want him as a teacher anymore. But she had called him 'teacher' just now, so that might be positive, or not…

* * *

After noon meal, Sarah returned Tapi to this father and walked with Neytiri to her mother's nest. Mo'at had not been present at the meal, as she was busy making potions and salves, so the two young women brought some fruit and meat with them.

"_I See you, Mo'at."_ Sarah greeted when she stepped into the view of the Tsahìk.

"_I See you, child. Did you have a good sleep?"_ She asked the same as Neytiri had done, looking at her while she stirred in a bowl with green goo.

"_I had, and I dreamt good, but strange. In my tawtute body, this morning before I returned here."_

Mo'at stopped stirring and set the bowl aside to listen to the female. Dreaming was something humans did, but when they came to see her, it often meant they had dreamt something unusual.

"_Tell me child."_ She pointed to a pile of soft skins in one corner of the nest, and they all three sat down.

"_I was supposed to return here before morning meal, but the dream-box didn't work at all. We tried many times. So while the other people started to see what the fault was, I went outside and climbed up in a tree. I was really frustrated and I fell asleep a little while later._" She paused, trying to find the words to explain what she dreamt of.

"_I was in a white space, nothing else was there. Then I realized I was falling through the white and while falling, I passed by pinkish hues, without form, and they laughed, sang and spoke in Na'vi. It was strange old Na'vi, different dialects and also many children's voices._

"_I slowed down after a while and a white landscape formed. And in front of me were a hill and a big white tree. Three Na'vi sat there, and then I realized I was in my avatar body somehow._

"_I walked there and spoke to the persons sitting there. But only one of them told me to tell you about the dream, and it was Grace."_

Sarah looked to Mo'at, hoping she wasn't sounding totally crazy.

"_What did she tell you?"_ Mo'at grabbed hold of Sarah's queue, looking closely at the pink tendrils that moved erratically.

"_She told me that she wanted to see how I was adapting and that Jake is still a Jarhead. She also thought I should introduce Norm to La'ri."_ She looked to mother and daughter, who shared a conspiratorially look.

"_She was right about Norm and La'ri; they might be suited to mate. But we'll see about that."_ Mo'at said and walked back to her jars and bowls. "_You were blessed with a dream-hunt out of your Na'vi body and before your Iknimaya. Very rare…"_ She murmured.

"_Mo'at, one of the two I can't tell you about… told me to say that…"_ She hesitated, not knowing how the older female would take it.

"_Stop dance around, child. I am not easily scared."_ She glanced over her shoulder with a no-nonsense look.

"_Eytukan likes the New Hometree. He's watching over it."_ She said softly and saw how Mo'at froze in her movements and Neytiri gasped softly.

"_Thank you, child… for giving me that message…"_ Mo'at didn't turn around, but if she had, Sarah would have seen the Tsahìk's eyes glazed with unshed tears. She still missed him.

* * *

Heading outside the tree, Sarah took a path leading to a safe place in the nearby jungle to practice blending with it. It had many high trees, bushes and other plants, a perfect place to try to become invisible.

The first time Tsu'tey had taken her here, he had told her to find him when he hid among the leaves. He had literally disappeared before her eyes and she had hell to find him. He was kind to leave a few tracks for her to look for, but they were hard to find also.

He had explained it to her that when someone wanted to be invisible, not being noticed by anyone, one should learn to breathe without sound, have silent steps as a palulukan and let the plants shadow cover your body, making it impossible to be found.

When she had then tried to hide from him, she had been found instantly. Her foremost problem was her tail, it had a life of its own, not staying still and making it easy for an experienced hunter to find her. When she had gotten it to stay still, her breath was too loud and her steps were those of an angtsìk. Before he had left for the hunting trip, she had begun to get a knack for it, and Neytiri had helped her improve some more, but she was still a long time from being as good as Tsu'tey.

Speaking of which, he stood in the clearing, instructing five younglings of the importance to be one with the jungle. Then he sent out four of them, the fifth stayed and was given the task to find his friends.

Sarah decided to try and sneak up on Tsu'tey and get even with him. He had pulled her tail many times when she couldn't control it, so she would try and pull his. Closing her eyes, she took a slow breath, calming herself and when she opened them, she let the jungle envelope her, embracing her.

Moving in the shadows, crawling on the jungle floor, she made her way slowly towards him. She had her goal in sight, as it swung with irritation over the younglings' incapability to hide properly. She stopped a split second; she couldn't help to admire his firm ass. Many Na'vi males had a fine ass, but as the best warrior, he also must have the best ass in the Clan. A soft blush crept up on her cheeks and she shook her head, trying to get back to her task at hand.

When she just was a meter or so away, she saw him glance over his shoulder and look at her.

"_I heard you when you crawled over the log."_ He said lowly and turned back to watch his younger students.

Said log had been twelve meters away.

Sighing, she got up on her feet and brushed off grass and dirt from her knees and loincloth. Deciding not to disturb his lesson too much, she sat down on another log, which lay in the bushes behind him; she was hidden from view, though he knew she was there.

"_I don't like friends yelling at me, for any reason."_ She began, knowing that he could hear her, but as he had younglings to look after, he could not respond, so she was able to talk to him and not lose her courage when doing so.

"_So I was thinking to ask for another teacher…"_ She didn't see him stiffen as she played with her braids, trying to formulate her thoughts right. "_But I don't need another teacher, since you are a good one, teaching me to become Omaticaya, even though I must really drive you nuts sometimes."_ She laughed faintly, thinking of all the times she had messed up.

"_You could have given up a long time ago, but you didn't and I trust you to help me become one of the Omaticaya. I hope I can make you proud one day, karyu."_ She sighed, feeling good about getting out what she wanted to say to him. And it also felt right to not let someone else teach her.

Figuring he would find her later, she turned to go back the same way she came from, when his strong hand gripped her arm gently through the bushes.

"_Get your bow; we're starting with arrows later."_ Then his hand disappeared, and he returned to his current lesson.

Grinning immensely, she jumped and rushed through the dense jungle, swinging on the branches and jumping from tree to tree to get her bow and hurry to the training area, finally would she begin to shoot real arrows instead of imaginary ones.

* * *

Tsu'tey let out the breath he hadn't known he was holding. When he heard her talking about wanting another teacher, he wanted to shout at her, telling her that no one could do a better job than he. The responsibility was his and his alone to teach her, so she would be ready to tame her ikran soon.

He had been listening after her ever since he began his lesson with the younglings. Even though she tried, she still hadn't mastered to blend with the jungle, but she was close. If he hadn't know she was on her way, he might had been surprised and discovered her a lot closer to his person.

She had potential to become a fine hunter and a great contribution to this clan. If only she could think 'I can' instead of 'I might'. That was her only problem so far, otherwise she was developing really good.

Sighing, he turned his attention back to his lesson, though he anticipated the lesson with the female later. Another thing she had confirmed was their relationship. She viewed him as her teacher and friend. It made him pleased, but at the same time, he felt something was missing.

* * *

After a few hours trying to teach the younglings how to blend with the jungle, Tsu'tey called it a day and told them to get back to their other chores, while he headed down to the training grounds for the archers.

It was on the other side of Hometree's entrance, away from where the children could accidentally run in the way of a flying arrow. A long clearing made it ideal to target practice to the goals set up on the other side. And next to the firing range, was a grassy area, used for beginners to watch those who could use a bow properly and for them to train how to properly pull back the bowstring and release it without flinching, as beginners usually did when the bow returned to its normal shape.

At first, he could not see her, but then he heard her laugh and he turned slightly to the right, seeing the female stand with some of his warriors and how they tried to help her hold the right pose for shooting an arrow. They were doing his task, but not a really good job of it.

She seemed to find their tries amusing, giggling and biting her lower lip to stop herself from laughing too loudly.

Tsu'tey grew annoyed with the whole thing; she might do something that wasn't correct and maybe in the future she would miss her prey and get killed of it.

Moving towards the little group, he announced himself by growling in irritation at the behavior of his warriors.

"_You wish to teach the younglings too?"_ He said coldly, looking at each warrior, who shook their heads and returned to their own practice.

Sarah saw, and heard, how Tsu'tey snorted at the males; clearly he was annoyed over their presence. A part of her could not help but wonder if it was jealousy speaking.

"_I've been practicing to pull the bow as you showed me."_ She said, pulling him away from his irritation, making him concentrate on her.

"_Show me and hold your stance."_ He said, moving to stand so he saw her body in full.

Taking a breath, she fell into her stance, reaching out her left hand, which held the bow, and grabbed the string with her right index and middle finger, bending her elbow calculatingly slow, as if she had a real arrow notched to shoot. Exhaling, she locked her muscles in place when she felt her arm come into the right position for a good shot. Holding her gaze forward, she didn't see Tsu'tey look at her closely.

He hadn't noticed her change of outfit until now. Same color, but completely Na'vi made. The loincloth gave her more movement, but it looked so bare, not a single feather or bead adorning it, like the other females, who had many pretty things to show to each other. Her top coverings brought forward her figure more, enhancing what Eywa had given her. Still, she wore more than the other females of the clan, covering her breasts completely, while the others often let some of the soft blue skin peak through their decorations of feathers and leaves, making the males wish to see more.

She only had those exotic white beads, something she called 'pearls', which her mother had left her when she let Eywa take care of her. They fitted her, the light from her night-glowing markings reflected in them, making her face glow up in a special way, which the other females didn't.

Knowing why his unmated warriors had spoken with her, he understood them, she was beautiful, in her own dream-walker way. But she was still a dream-walker.

Stepping closer to her, he smacked her elbow slightly, making it go up another centimeter. Pushing one hand in her upper stomach, just beneath her top, he felt her falter just slightly, but correcting her stance and holding her ground against his assault. Good.

"_Try one arrow, if you miss target, we wait another day."_ He said, making her focus more with the promise of letting her wait for another day.

Sarah nodded determinedly as she dropped her stance, she wouldn't miss her chance.

Moving to the targets, Sarah fished up the arrows she had brought with her, four only, as it was the normal amount for a hunter to bring.

Before she took aim, she checked her arm bracer, making sure it sat in place. She had learnt that lesson a long time ago, a lesson every beginner had to learn: that the bow could bit back. With the help of the bow-maker, _Ra'tsik_, she had made her own bracer. It was a simple one, no decorations or adornments, similar to Neytiri's bracer, wrapping around the arm, no strings needed to hold it in place, only her own arms shape.

Placing her first and maybe only arrow for today, she drew her right arm back, aimed for the target, which were 100 yards from her position. Seeing the trajectory in her mind, she inhaled and on the exhale, she let go of the bowstring, it shot the arrow away, towards the target, going long and hit the outer edge of the round piece of wood they used, sticking firmly and staying in place.

Letting her bow drop to her side, she turned to Tsu'tey and smiled.

"_I did it!"_ Her eyes glittered of joy and she felt a rush of excitement flow through her body.

"_Do it again."_ He said, pointing to the target. "_Closer the center this time."_

Frowning at him, she stuck her tongue out at him and turned back to the target.

"_It would be nice to say 'good work' or something."_ She mumbled as she notched another arrow.

Seeing movement in the corner of her eye, she saw him come up to stand behind her and correct her stance. Pushing her elbow up an inch, he looked at her aim, still holding his hand around her elbow and the other pushed her left hip back a bit.

"_If you hit center. Then it's 'good work'."_ He said with a low voice, his breath tickling her neck and she shifted slightly, making him push her back in the right stance.

When he corrected her stance the second time, he felt her tail touch his leg and then wrap around his upper thigh, holding on gently. At first he was going to reach down and pull it away, but it felt nice and she didn't do any harm, so why bother?

A whizzing sound was heard as she let go of the bowstring and the arrow got closer to the center, but not by much.

"_Again."_ He said lowly, trying to see what she saw in her aim and see how she could improve.

Notching a third arrow, she took her stance again, though this time she felt his closeness very much and she also realized it was not her leg that her tail was holding onto. Shit, shit, shit. What would he think of her? Why hadn't he yelled yet to let him go?

Trying to force her tail to let him go, she failed, and also failed her stance. She shifted her elbow and her bow arm faltered too. That momentarily lack of focus made Tsu'tey frown and push her bow arm down and smack her elbow in place, while holding his hand on her arm brace.

The smack startled her a bit and she let go of the bowstring, arrow flying to land three inches from the center. However, as her lucky shot had returned the bowstring to its starting place, it had also smacked Tsu'tey's fingers, giving him an angry red welt over his three fingers; his thumb was spared the pain.

He had not experienced a smack from the bowstring since he was a beginner. Did it really hurt this much? The reason to as why he had not removed his hand from her bracer was a very odd one; he had concentrated on the small movements and the tickling her tail had done to his thigh instead of looking at what he was doing.

"Oh shit. I'm sorry." She had switched to English, shock often made her go back to her first language.

He looked at her, seeing her concern as she looked at his fingers, which she held in her hand, inspecting the damage.

"_It's nothing I haven't experienced before."_ He said and pulled back his hand, stretching his fingers gingerly and feeling how it had swelled up a bit around the welt.

"_Wait."_ She said and jogged over to a nearby tree where a small leather bag hung from a branch. Sarah took it down and opened it as she returned to him. She opened up a smaller pouch that had been inside the bag, stuck her index and middle finger inside and swiftly grabbed his hand, pulling it closer to her before he could protest. Dabbing some salve on the welt, he hissed for a second, before the pain dissipated and the swelling began to go down almost immediately.

"_I got it from Mo'at the first time the bow bit me back. So before I'm as good as you, if I ever will, I keep this with me when I practice."_ She said gently, making sure the salve covered the small welt.

Tsu'tey looked on with marvel as she focused on covering the small welt with salve. He knew that left untended, it would itch for a few days, and it would be an annoyance. It felt nice when she put on the salve than when Mo'at did it. It also felt nice to be taken care of, even if it was just a small cut and friends took care of each other, no harm in that.

"_Thank you."_ He said, low enough for her ears only and knew she had heard as her ears twitched and her cheeks turned a darker blue.

It was the first time she had heard him give anyone his thanks.

* * *

Tsu'tey continued to watch over her archery sessions, even though after a week, she was good enough to not need anyone to help her out, as her stance was good, her aim had improved considerably after practicing several hours a day, even if she hadn't hit the center yet. He often shot one or two arrows just to spite her, as he hit the center every time.

He still liked to see her improvement, which in some cases were better than the other youths that were going to the Iknimaya with her soon. He had decided that she should now train with the others, not needing private sessions as much now. She would have to learn to keep up with a Na'vi born in the jungle, who knew how to behave as a Na'vi, whereas she had not grow up with the jungle and learnt how to live with it.

So, he took her and four other younglings out on a '_jungle workout'_ playing '_following the leader_' for over four hours. He lead them on a trek around Hometree, making them experience the true jungle, teaching them to really use the trees, branches and leaves to propel themselves forward.

She made it through the first two hours without effort and then she began to fall back slightly, her distance from the group increasing over the last two hours, making her arrive ten minutes after the group had returned to Hometree.

The four '_real_' Na'vi and Tsu'tey waited for her, when she finally caught up with them. They were only slightly out of breath, as this had not been a too hard workout, but Sarah was panting and trying to get her heart to calm down as she really had struggled to not stop and take a break the last hour or so. That would have only set her back even more than just ten minutes.

Holding her hands on her knees, she bent forward, breathed hard and felt how sweaty and dirty she really was. But she had done it, sure, she was ten minutes late, but she had made it, and that was all that mattered. She still had her bow and arrows, which they had brought with them as defense if they had needed it. But she had got stuck with it a few times, not seeing an overhead branch or vine hanging down and snatching on to the end of her bow.

Tsu'tey had seen how she had fallen behind, but he could not stop, nor could he yell and urge her on, as this training was made in silence, as they had passed by territory belonging to viper wolfs and palulukan. So if she had not made it, then the jungle would not be a place for her to live in. he saw how exhausted she was, however, she was not falling to the ground in fatigue or complaining about it, which some females did sometimes. If they did, he just took them out on another run until they didn't complain anymore.

His gaze was drawn to her tail, which moved back and forth in a slow motion of tired irritation, flicking occasionally and made him wonder if he could catch it while it was moving like that.

Catching himself thinking like that, he straightened up and looked sternly at the female and the other younglings.

"_Climb up to the top of Hometree and back down. Now!" _He demanded, seeing how they all jumped to do as he said, even the female, who groaned silently when she passed him.

Tsu'tey followed her slow run until she disappeared into the tree, she would not make him look like a weak and uncontrolled male when she got him to look at her graceful body.

* * *

Somewhere beyond the jungle of the Omaticaya, past the Great River and over the Big Plains were another Hometree, the Home of the Clan of the Pa'li.

It was a long way from the lush jungle, but they had a forest not far by pa'li, where they gathered their food and hunted animals given by Eywa.

Akwey, the Clan's leader, had been in deep thought ever since he had returned from the Omaticaya to begin asking the clan which of their males and females that would be amiable to move to the Plains and be accepted as one of them.

He was thinking of the dream-walker female, who Kerusey'itan had found within the Tsahìk's nest. Seeing her eyes, the fear and fierceness in them before him, made him wonder if his warrior was suited to be allowed to mate with her.

The atokirina that had come to her, showing him that Eywa truly accepted her as Her child, they had not wanted to come close to himself or Kerusey'itan; in fact they had stayed close to her and also accepted the warrior of Toruk Makto, when he had lifted her up behind her on his pa'li.

Maybe this was Eywa's sign, telling them that the female belonged with the Omaticaya and not with them. There had been a few beautiful females of the Omaticaya, who had looked at his best warrior with interest. But the strong, but angry, warrior had seen a challenge in the dream-walker female, a challenge that needed to be won.

Kerusey'itan had been a fierce warrior from the very beginning, when he first had been found walking around in the nearby forest by their scouts; he had fought them, behaving extremely wild. After a while, Akwey had been able to calm the youngling down with real food, as he must have been living on raw teylu and fruits he could find, as he had no weapons on him, only the loincloth, which was very tattered and almost falling apart.

When the youngling had been fed, he had told them in short sentences that he had been kicked out from his clan, a weaver clan, which was a very peaceful clan, not believing that fighting was the solution to anything, he hadn't been able to do anything but behaving badly, acting up and starting fights. He didn't like to weave, he wanted to fight and feel the thrill in the midst of battle, as he had heard the singers that came from other clans sing about.

Akwey had felt pity for the young male, knowing that a life without the thrill of fighting or hunting whilst riding in full gallop on a pa'li wasn't worth living. He had taken him in, taught him how to fight with bow, knife and spear and finally he was allowed to bond with his pa'li, a lifelong friend.

Though the clan didn't think of his name that much anymore, outsiders did. The tradition came from the clan he had been kicked out from; the male or female was dead to the clan, never allowed to return and as dead they got the names accordingly. Males got the name '_Kerusey'itan_' and the females '_Kerusey'ite_'. Meaning, 'dead son' and 'dead daughter'.

He had kept that name, honoring his old clan's ways, and creating one of his own; most beings in his path died, in one way or another.

Akwey feared that the female dream walker of the Omaticaya, her free will would die, if she mated with Kerusey'itan. He would take her as a lifelong challenge and slowly bend her to his will.

* * *

**Authors note: **Let me just say; muhahahaha.

Evil OC I have created huh? He will get her and make her obey him. Wouldn't that be a great ending? ;)

Review please, you make me really happy =)


	9. Wounds of Palulukan

**Disclaimer:** Don't own, never will, sadly.

**Authors note:** So, she came back in the last chapter. And they're friends now, border lining to become something more. But who will cross that line first?

Enjoy,

Lunatic

* * *

Chapter 9 – Wounds of Palulukan

* * *

Two weeks after Sarah had decided to not take another teacher than Tsu'tey, they had begun to warm up a bit more to each other, at least on Tsu'tey's side. He began to see her as a friend, whom he could rely on and slowly, he began to learn more about her. Maybe there was one more of the Sky People that could be trusted.

She was already accepted by the clan in general, truly showing an interest to learn their ways and to follow through with the tasks given to her.

Tsu'tey had given her the task of knowing about the different trades in the clan, such as weaving, weapon's making, food gathering and all other things that was normal for an Omaticaya to know. So, when she had not been training with Tsu'tey, she had been with La'ri, Neytiri and a few others, who taught her bits and pieces that was valuable to know for a hunter/warrior.

Now she was able to make a loincloth of leaves and vines found in the jungle, if her own broke when hunting. She also knew how to repair her bow and arrows, stringing the bow if the bowstring had broken, thanks to Ra'tsik, the bow-maker. And La'ri had shown her what fruit and different plants that she could eat, if she ever happened to get lost in the jungle.

Sarah had been surprised that Mo'at had wanted her to learn the most common plants for making a wound stop bleeding and leaves that worked as morphine if placed on the wound. But that should be good to know, when a healer was far away.

Tsu'tey had made her show him one thing she had learnt every time they were out in the jungle. They had begun to go out in the jungle for several hours, him teaching her how to climb, jump and crawl while running and while carrying her bow on her back. She had done that before, but every time they were out, she always got stuck at least one time in the branches sticking out. It was really frustrating, both for him and her. She almost had a permanent mark on her chest from her bowstring, running diagonally from her left shoulder to her right hip.

The first times she had gotten stuck, Tsu'tey had shown her how to have her bow in a good position, so she wouldn't get stuck. Even if she followed his advice, she got stuck anyway. The first five times she gasped whenever she got stuck, that's how Tsu'tey knew when he had to turn back. After that, she tried to not make a sound, as he had told her it could alert wild animals or enemies to her position. So she learnt after a while to keep her surprised/strangled gasp to herself, even if it was really hard to know when she would get stuck.

When Tsu'tey had heard her gasp the first times, he had stopped instantly, turned around and sighed deeply when he saw her do mistakes the very young children did when they began to practice with a bow on their backs. He had thought she had lost her balance or stepped on a sharp splinter. He helped her down; not saying anything, as she knew what he would say if he would have berated her about her clumsiness.

After about a week with these mishaps, he just stopped turning around when he didn't hear her following him through the jungle. Sometimes she did get loose on her own and caught up with him, but when she was truly stuck, he would hear her grumble and begin to say ugly words in ìnglìsì, then he knew he had to turn back and help her get down, or help her get her bow down from whatever it had gotten stuck in. She had already managed to pull loose the bowstring from the bow twice in her attempts to get it free.

On these outings, Tsu'tey found an opportunity to ask her about the world she had come from, he had not gotten any real answers from Jakesully or Normspellman, only that the world they came from was dark, cold and most importantly; no Eywa to watch over them.

He usually asked questions she had to think really hard to answer, just to explain it in words he would understand. Other times, he asked questions that were easier to explain.

"_Why do your people cover up in fabrics so much?"_ He had asked, though he already knew the answer, he wanted to hear what she thought.

"_Clothes are like the Na'vi wearing feathers and beads in their hair, or having claws around your neck. It's a display of who you are and which status you have among the people."_ They had stopped so she could repair her bow; the bowstring had come loose again. "_And also to protect against the weather, the rain and the cold. It serves many purposes."_ Sighing, she looked at her beat up bow.

"_I need to see Ra'tsik when we get back. He will glare at me again."_ She rose and checked her bow again before pulling it over her head and fastening it over her chest.

"_I thought you were used to the glares from me?"_ He jumped up in a tree and heard her follow.

"_I am, but now Ra'tsik's glares are more dangerous, especially when I come to him with my tattered bow. He treats them like his children, but that is what makes him a master bow-maker."_

Tsu'tey snorted and thought he had to improve his glares towards her, if she were to learn something. If he wasn't intimidating, she wouldn't learn and only do mistakes, unless he glared at her when she did something wrong.

He stopped to look which way to take, which way that was most suitable for teaching her something she didn't know.

Sarah waited behind him, looking around at the scenery, seeing some of all the beauty of Pandora. Seeing a few colorful feathers left by a bird in a nest, she wanted to bring them back, as a gift to Neytiri for all help the female had given her. Luckily for her, it was a branch reaching towards the abandoned nest and she stepped out on it, moving to get her gift.

Tsu'tey saw what she was after, and didn't think much of it, until he saw the condition of the branch she had stepped out on.

"_Wait."_ He hissed at her and pulled her back, but too late. The branch she had stepped on was old and murky, he had seen it, but didn't think she would actually step on it, after everything he had taught her.

The branch gave way to her weight, her hand flew out to hold on to him, but she pulled him along with her, downwards. Falling and hitting mostly the big leaves that grows beneath the tree, their fall was slowing down, but they still landed in a heap on the moss covered ground, she on top of him, over his stomach, laying halfway in his lap.

After catching their breaths and feeling that they have all limbs attached, she begins to laugh softly, at her stupidity to step on a rotten branch and that they made it down in one piece.

"_You okay?"_ She asks chuckling, as she pushed herself up and away from him, sitting back on her knees next to his outstretched body.

"_I would be much better, if you hadn't landed on me."_ He touched his stomach to feel if he had an imprint of her there. He grinned slightly and began to sit up, but felt how something held him down by the long braids. Wincing, he reached up his hand and felt something sticky on the ends of his braids.

"_Wait, I'll help you loose from that."_ Taking off her bow she had on her back, she placed it next to him and shifted closer to his head and the small bush he had landed in with his head.

She saw the yellow goo on at least ten of his braids, but not on his queue, but it was close to be dipped in the sticky mess unless she moved it.

"_I must pull away your queue from the sticky goo, may I?" _She asked, looking down at him.

Tsu'tey nodded and shifted slightly, but she laid her hand on his shoulder pushing him down somewhat.

"_Don't move, please."_ She grabbed hold of his queue down in the end, pulling it gently away from the mess. She saw how the pink tendrils in the end withered and moved excitingly, trying to make her come closer somehow. She knew not to touch them, so she quickly pulled it over his shoulder and laid it over his chest.

"_I'm going to get some leaves and wrap around your braids, so they won't mess up the other clean ones."_ She said, rising to take a few steps to a nearby bush, took out her knife and cut of a branch with plenty of leaves on. She returned to Tsu'tey's side and ripped off leaves from the branch.

She grabbed hold of one braid at a time, slowly pulling them out from the yellow goo, and when it was free, she wrapped a leaf around each one, making sure they hopefully didn't have anything that could get stuck to his back when he rose from the ground.

When she was done and he rose to sit up, she snickered at his appearance. He turned his eyes on her, frowning and glaring, almost pouting at her.

"_What are you laughing about, female?"_ He growled, but he felt the leaves touch his back, and could almost vision how he must look like.

"_I wish I had a picture box. This is a very good _black-mail material_ that will go to waste when I wash it off."_ She took her bow, rose and grabbed his hand to get him up from the ground. She then headed to where she had seen a smaller river before.

"Black-mail?" Tsu'tey questioned and followed her through the jungle.

"Yes, is it okay if I explain in _'ìnglìsì_?" Seeing him nod, she continued. "If you had known something about me that no one else did, and said to me that you would tell the whole clan about it, I could tell you if you did so I would show the clan pictures of you with the leaves in your hair." She smiled and pushed away some big leaves in her path and jumping over a fallen tree with practiced ease.

"So if I wanted to keep those pictures unseen, I wouldn't tell the clan what I knew about you?"

"Exactly, unless your male pride could take some laughs from the clan when they saw those pictures." Dodging under a low branch, she heard the water nearby and smiled. She was getting the hang of this now. "_Find a good place to sit, near the water."_ She handed him her bow and walked over to a big tree, whose branches hung over the water, dipping its most outer leaves in the fluid. Under that kind of tree it usually grew hand-sized, cupped, yellow flowers, filled with a sweet smelling greenish liquid, called _syulang'yur_ or flower-wash. It was very good for removing dirt from the body and hair, exactly what Tsu'tey needed now.

Finding the flowers growing under the tree, she saw that she had to get up in the tree first and then she could reach the flowers with ease when she had passed the closest branch. Going around the tree wouldn't help; it rested against a rock, which had no good climbing surface.

Tsu'tey found a place to sit, near the water, as she had asked him to, he saw her climb with relatively ease up on the branch closest to the shore, disappearing for a short moment and returning the same way she had come, carrying a big yellow flower in her hand gently over the branch, careful to not tip it over, spilling its contents.

Sitting down behind him on a rock, she sat down the flower in a hole in the ground, making it stand up and then she began to remove all the braids that was not covered in goo and had leaves on them. Throwing them over his shoulders, she got them out of her way.

Dipping her fingers in the cupped flower, she moved her hand quickly to a braid with leaf and let the greenish liquid coat the goo before she began to rub the leaf between her fingers, making the '_shampoo/soap_' get to all stickiness.

Repeating this procedure more than ten times, she had got them all, just a few sticky spots on his upper back to coat with the soap, which the braids had left there.

Tsu'tey felt his back burn slightly when her fingers moved softly over his back, trying to get rid of the stickiness. It felt really good to be taken care of, if he had been by himself, this most probably hadn't happened, but if it had, he would probably have gotten the disgusting gooey all smeared up all over his hair, forcing him to visit the females who braided his hair and they would probably figure out what he had done, as they were very good with hair and seeing what had happened with it. No, this solution was much better.

The female was very gentle, being careful with him, almost treating him like a fragile child and he had no problem with that. No male could resist being taken care of by a female, even if they were just friends.

Sarah saw a few circular scars on his lower back, remembering that Norm had told her Tsu'tey had been shot several times, while trying to take down the big _Valkyrie_ ship and saving The Tree of Souls. She softly traced a round scar and then she felt with both her palms if any stickiness was left, and she couldn't find any. Giving Tsu'tey a gentle nudge with her hands, she told him to get in the river and rinse his hair and back.

Jumping in directly, he dove under the surface and swam a few strokes, feeling the gooey disappear with the stream. Staying under the water for a moment, he saw her through the surface, still sitting on the bank washing her hands with the soap to get rid of the specks of goo she had gotten on her. Breaking the surface, he swam up to her and sat down next to her on the stone she sat on.

Sarah couldn't help but blush when he came up from the smaller river, water running down over his chest and abs, his arms glittering with droplets, making him look even more otherworldly than he already was in her eyes. When he sat down, she rose and crouched down by the shoreline, splashing water over her arms, getting rid of the goo and lather. And also, she splashed her face with the cool water, hoping he wouldn't see her blush.

Unexpectedly, Sarah felt how a strong hand pushed her in the back, making her fall into the river. Coming up for air, she turned towards the shore and was about to yell at him for behaving like a child. What she saw made her turn pale in fear.

Tsu'tey stood with his back turned to her, looking at something big twenty meters away from them. She didn't see what it was at first, until a loud roar echoed in the jungle and she shifted a bit so she could see around Tsu'tey. She had never met or seen one before, but it was truly terrifying to see the large thanator look in their direction and considering them for a snack.

"_Stay in the water."_ Tsu'tey hissed. "_They are not good swimmers."_ He stood perfectly still, thinking how he could lure the beast away from her and then escape himself. Luckily, this palulukan was just a youngling, and he had hopefully not learnt every trick in the book when it came to hunting Na'vi.

Sarah was scared, not for her sake as much as she was for Tsu'tey's. He was the best warrior, but what could one warrior do against a strong, fast thanator?

The young thanator had no patience yet, the hunger he felt was greater and suddenly he charged, going for the big blue snack in front of him.

Tsu'tey had no choice; he had to run away from the big beast, hoping he could climb up in a tree that was too difficult for the thanator to climb in. Heading down the river, he tried to find such a tree.

When the thanator had its back turned to Sarah, she sneaked closer to the shore to grab her bow and arrows that had been left behind. Seeing how the grey animal ran down the river, she hurriedly climbed up in a tree and rushed after it on the branched above, keeping her eyes on the blue figure running in front of the killing machine. Stumbling to a halt in a high tree when she saw Tsu'tey climb up in one, but he wasn't fast enough. The young palulukan had caught up with him and scratched his long curved claws over the warrior's back, leaving four long bleeding cuts. They didn't seem deep enough from the distance she was at, but she saw the pain it caused and it made her angry to see her teacher be mauled by a beast.

Tsu'tey felt the pain across his back, much like the pain he had suffered in the war, by the Sky People's metal pebbles. In his try to get higher up, the palulukan slashed again, but this time he only got hold of the bow he held in his hands. It got ripped away from him and now he only had his knife, but it would do no good against the thick armor the beast had.

Climbing as high as he could with his injured back, he found a kind of platform in the tree and took his chances to glance down, only to see the beast prowl underneath the tree, hoping the blue snack would eventually fall down. The young palulukan could not climb this high tree, which had a smooth bark, and only vines hanging down to climb on, which Tsu'tey had used to drag himself up with. Falling down on his knees, he drew a deep breath, at least his _numeyu_ was safe from this and hopefully she had returned to Hometree, getting help.

Sarah fretted in the tree she sat in. She saw Tsu'tey relax somewhat where he sat, but as he only had his knife to protect himself with, he was doomed if the palulukan would try to get up in the tree. The big beast paced back and forth, occasionally looking up to see if his prey had given up yet. He wouldn't as long as the delicious scent of blood hung in the air.

Weighing her options, Sarah leaned back against the trunk of the tree to think. To get down on the ground was out of the question. To try and shoot it also, too thick skin. Getting help was one idea, but it could take too long to get back and return with more warriors. The only option to get Tsu'tey out of there alive, and her too, was to kill the stupid animal.

Looking down at the palulukan, it had sat down, looking up at Tsu'tey as he would fall down from the tree any minute now. She tried to figure out where to shoot the animal, to either scare it off, or kill it. One place on the animal she could think of that was not protected by the thick armor was its eyes. But that meant she had to hit a spot similar to the bulls eye on the practice board back home. And she hadn't done that yet, she was still an inch or so away from making it.

After realizing she had to get down to a lower branch, a branch that the palulukan might reach, she took a deep breath, closed her eyes and asked Eywa to guide her arrow straight, so she could save her friend. Then she silently slid down the branch she was standing on, to the branch she had beneath her. Lifting her bow to the correct position, she placed the arrow on and drew the string back slowly, carefully aiming at the beast. When seeing the eye with her eye, she let go.

Tsu'tey heard the low whizzing of an arrow, thinking that she must have been really fast to get help and he looked up to see how an arrow embedded itself in the left eye of the palulukan, making the animal cry out in pain and rage. It turned to where he thought the arrow had come from and drew in a deep breath and Tsu'tey saw with horror who the person was that had shot the arrow.

She was standing too low for safeness, notching another arrow on her bow and aimed it at the enraged beast, true fear showing in her eyes. She had to blind the beast completely to be safe, and she had been lucky with the first shot, but the second could not have the same luck.

He didn't dare to shout at her, even in her fear, her eyes and stance spoke of absolute focus. She was waiting until the very last moment to shoot. It could save them, or kill her.

Her heart thundered in her ears, adrenaline flowed viciously through her veins and she had never been more scared or determined in her whole life. The half-blinded animal roared and spotted her standing on a branch, ready to shoot again. Knowing this shot would be so much more difficult to make, as the palulukan moved, she had to vision where her target would be and not where it currently was. Praying to Eywa, she let her arrow fly, and she it the other eye miraculously, but it didn't stop the animal running to its destination. He still had the sense of smell to rely on and it told him the other blue snack was close.

Hurriedly, she notched a third arrow, but had no chance to let it go, the palulukan jumped and hit the branch she was standing on, taking down her, the branch and himself.

Tsu'tey could only witness the horrible scene. The female had been foolish, trying to be a hero and save him from the animal and not thinking to return to the Hometree and get help. When the palulukan had landed, it sighed and then lay still, not moving one bit, it looked like it was dead. There was neither sound nor any movement coming from the fallen beast, and neither came from the female.

* * *

It all had happened so fast. The animal had jumped at her, pushing the bow from her hands with one of its four front legs, two of them had landed on the branch and its weight had made the branch snap, making them both fall down. Somehow, she had gotten out her knife from its sheath on her hip and pushed it up against the palulukan's neck, hitting a soft spot just under its jaw and pushed it in, making the animal cry out in true pain.

She felt it stagger over her and then fall down, pinning her to the ground. Not wanting to open her eyes, she didn't dare to find out if she was alive or dead.

Something dribbled down on her face, and she had to look what it was, only to close her eyes again, when she saw the wound her knife had caused. Getting a bit sick, she took a deep breath and then opened her eyes to see that she really was alive. Her whole body hurt, but she was alive. Beginning to cry of relief, she then whispered a prayer she had learnt when she was going to make a kill.

"_Rest in peace, my brother. May Eywa give you a long life with her and may you never go hungry again."_

Shifting underneath the animal, she felt that she would be able to get free, if she wiggled enough. The palulukan's head had landed on the branch, making a small cavity between it and the ground, and she had had the fortune to be pushed into that small space.

Groaning, she began to push on the head, trying to get some fresh air and to tell Tsu'tey she was alive.

* * *

He was grieving; the female was probably crushed under the animal, most likely having broken her neck in the fall. A small tickle on his shoulder made him glance over and see two atokirina dancing next to him.

"_Have you come to take her to Eywa?"_ He asked the small spirits. "_Guide her safely."_

The small white seeds began to move up and down, almost excitingly and floated down in a hurry towards the fallen palulukan.

Tsu'tey looked at them, wondering if Eywa was happy to have gotten the female to her and letting him be by himself.

Then, the palulukan began to shift, its head moved up, showing the two arrows in each eye, showing him that she had hit the small target in time, but she hadn't gotten away in time.

Several more atokirina began to float down from the trees, all excited and floating above the fallen animal. Deciding to investigate, Tsu'tey slowly moved down the tree, even if his back was still bleeding and causing him pain, very cautious if the wounded animal would attack him. Knife at the ready, he slowly walked around the beast, ready to help it on its journey to Eywa. No beast should suffer, friend or foe.

When he got close to the head, he almost fell backwards of surprise. She was alive, some few cuts and bruises and covered in blood from the big animal, but she was alive. She was struggling to get out between the palulukan's head and the branch, her legs trapped beneath the heavy body of the animal. He had been prepared to find her dead, neck snapped or worse. He had also been prepared to carry her back to Hometree and face the sadness that would follow. Now he didn't have to.

"_Tsu'tey!"_ She was glad when she saw him, and gave him a tired smile. "_Give me a hand? I'm stuck."_

Coming around to her side, he laid his hands on the side of the palulukan and pushed with all his might, slowly lifting the beast as much so she could slide out. Before he let go, she reached down under the jaw and pulled out her knife, covered with the dark blood.

Hissing when she stood up finally, she saw a long, shallow gash on her upper thigh, probably from the animal.

"_How in the name of Eywa did you survive?"_ Tsu'tey pointed to the palulukan and still couldn't believe it. Most times when a Na'vi met the animal, he or she ended up as dinner.

"_With Eywa's help."_ She said and shrugged, she didn't want to think about it more, it would only make her think 'what if'. She was grateful for having survived the whole ordeal, and wanted to move on. Walking up to Tsu'tey, she slunk behind him, carefully touching his back.

"_What are you doing?"_ He hissed and turned to face her.

"_What Mo'at taught me."_ She said simply and began to look around on the different jungle plants. Finding the one she wanted she got four big leaves, each as big as two hands, from a bush and walking back to Tsu'tey, she pulled down a vine that hung from a tree and brought it along.

"_Sit."_ She pointed to a rock next to him, her tone made it clear that she wanted no argument from him, but she got a glare as he sat down.

Pushing him forward, she looked closely at the wounds and picked out some larger twigs and leafs, before she gently placed the leaves she had gotten over his back and bound them to him with the vine.

"_I won't carry you back, you're too fat."_ She smiled as she secured the vine with a few knots.

Grunting at her, he rose and gave her a murderous glare before he began to search for his bow, and he found it, by the tree he had been up in.

"_Let's go back, before the nantang comes to eat the palulukan."_ He made the hand sign for 'move' and began to walk in the direction of the Hometree, although his gait showed Sarah that he was in more pain than he wanted to show.

* * *

When they had almost made it back to Hometree, Tsu'tey staggered and fell to lean against a nearby tree. Sarah rushed up to him, looking at him worriedly.

"_I'm fine."_ He said lowly, though his eyes showed exhaustion and drowsiness.

"_You're not."_ She said and took his arm and placed it over her shoulders, making him lean on her. He was heavy, but she was in far better condition than he was.

In a low voice she said. "_It is okay to be tired; it doesn't make you less strong in my eyes."_ She laid her other arm under his wounds, just over his behind and grabbed hold of his hip with her hand, to support him. Then she made him move in a slow pace, to exhausting him further.

A short while later, they were spotted by one of the scouts watching over their defense perimeter of the Hometree, who called out to get help for the exhausted pair and a couple of warriors on pa'li came riding to their aide. They helped Tsu'tey sit up behind on one of the warriors, and then assisted Sarah up also, before riding to find Mo'at.

As they got closer, several Na'vi saw the wounded Tsu'tey and spread the word. Jake and Neytiri came running to see what had happened. Norm came stumbling down the tree with Mo'at, both worried.

"_What happened?"_ Jake asked, looking at the wounded Tsu'tey and also seeing the gash on Sarah's thigh.

"_Palulukan."_ Sarah said as she slid down to the ground from the pa'li.

Neytiri gasped, and Mo'at shook her head, knowing she had to treat Tsu'tey at once, so his wounds would not be infected.

Bringing them to Mo'at's healing nest, Jake and Norm placed Tsu'tey on a woven mat, covered with soft skins and leaves. Sarah sat down on a pile of skins, just a bit from Tsu'tey.

Mo'at cut off the vines Sarah had used and pulled off the leaves gently to reveal the four gashes. The blood had already begun to harden, but she needed to clean the wounds carefully, or it would leave very large scars.

"_Neytiri, tend to Sarah, she can then help us with Tsu'tey."_ Mo'at ordered, and began to pluck down herbs and other things needed to make a healing paste for Tsu'tey.

Neytiri helped Sarah to clean her superficial wound and cover it with a bandage, while Mo'at hacked and grounded the herbs to a paste.

"_Make sure it covers his whole back."_ Mo'at instructed and began to slowly cover the warriors back with a green paste.

Sarah and Neytiri did the same, slowly covering the wounds.

Halfway through, Mo'at told Neytiri that she needed help with getting a few more herbs, and told Sarah to continue covering the wounds and said they would be back soon.

When they all had been covering his back with the paste, it didn't feel strange, but when she now was alone doing that, it felt more intimate somehow.

Glancing down, she saw that he had closed his eyes, but a crease on his forehead told her he was in pain.

"_For the best warrior, you were quite stupid today."_ She said softly, without any venom in her voice.

He opened his eyes, was she really that ungrateful to his attempts to save her?

"_You were the one who was stupid; you could have gone back and got some help."_ He hissed lowly, glaring at her.

"_Maybe, but you could have jumped into the water with me. You said palulukan couldn't swim well, didn't you? We could have floated downstream and gotten away safely."_

Tsu'tey fell silent; he hadn't thought of that actually, he had just wanted her to be safe.

"_Thank you, Tsu'tey. You were still brave, even though it was stupid to do what you did."_ She smiled at him, continuing to put the paste on his wounds.

"_You made me surprised and proud today."_ He said after a while, glancing at her and seeing her blush at his praise. "_It was good of you to blind the palulukan, but if you had missed, we might both be dead."_

"_I know, and I will try to make you proud when I go through Iknimaya too."_ She grinned a bit.

"_You better. But first I want you to kill your first real prey, and then you might be ready to go through Iknimaya with the others. When I have recovered, we shall go out and find a hexapede."_

Sarah smiled at her teacher, hoping she would soon go through with the final ritual to become an Omaticaya.

* * *

**Authors note:** No cliffhanger this time, I felt nice today.

My muse is getting a bit tired, could you help her out a bit? Tell her what you would like to see happen between Sarah and Tsu'tey, is there any 'special' you want to happen between them?

**Question:** How would you imagine their first kiss to happen? Who would start it? Would they run away from it? Who would go for seconds?


	10. More Training, Surviving and Talking

**Disclaimer:** Don't own, never will, sadly.

**Authors note:** I have reached over 10000 hits on this story now. That is so awesome, so thank you all that read this story. I love you!

I have gotten many suggestions from many people, so my muse is mixing them up, making even better stuff up for you guys. So if there is something you see that makes you go 'hey I have suggested that, why didn't she credit me?', I am sorry. Ideas pop up while I write, so things I have read that you suggested might just come to me and then I don't know who suggested it.

So I say: Thank you all that has given me ideas, you're my muses and I love you!

Enjoy,

Lunatic.

* * *

Chapter 10 – More Training, Surviving and Talking

* * *

While Tsu'tey recovered from his battle with the palulukan, Jake took over the training and made sure the younglings, including Sarah and Norm, was driven to exhaustion each day, keeping them on their toes and not giving them much respite.

One of those days, around a week after Tsu'tey's injury, Jake took all riding into to the jungle, planning to be gone for the whole day, so they would get used to riding long distances and in different speeds.

The Olo'eyktan was not very liked that day.

When riding, they came upon the old Hometree, seeing how Eywa had begun to restore the area to its former beauty. Jake told them that even if the Sky People had destroyed it, Eywa was compassionate to restore it to the glory it once had been, it would take several generations to do so, but Eywa would provide for future generations.

The trees and bushes were still small, but they would soon tower over the ground, repairing the scorched land. The fire had done some good, letting the land start over, even though the Omaticaya had lost the tree of their ancestors and a part of their heritage. But many of the clan believed that when Jake began as Olo'eyktan, it was a sign of the new, unifying the people even more and for that, the new generations to come needed another tree to live in, one without bad memories.

Telling the hunters to be to take twenty minutes to rest and eat, Jake moved away to search the old Hometree for any remains. They had, after the war and all, gone back and buried all that had fallen when the tree fell, in the ground around the old Hometree. Even Eytukan lay here, watching over his fallen clan members.

While picking some fruit from a nearby bush, Sarah saw a few atokirina float into her line of sight and they followed her around, touching her skin from time to time.

When she moved in a certain direction, they moved with her, but if she walked in another way, they stopped, hovering, as if waiting for her to walk their way. She thought it odd, but she got this feeling they wanted to show her something. Walking slowly, she followed them around the back of the burnt down Hometree and saw how the atokirina floated ahead of her, stopping over a bush and settled down on its leaves.

Crouching down, she gently pushed the leaves out of the way and found an undisturbed pile of ash being there. One atokirina floated down, landing on the pile, and then it moved away and landed on her hand. Shrugging, Sarah just hoped she wouldn't find something disgusting lying under the ash as she began to dig in the pile.

Her fingers found something, but she didn't know what it was until she pulled it out in the light. It was a small leather pouch, scorched badly by the fire, but the contents seemed to still be in there and no holes were visible.

Gently, she opened the band that held the pouch together and tipped the contents out in her hand. It was a simple necklace, beads on a leather string. It was all sooty and dirty, but it was intact having withstood the fire almost a year ago and Sarah began to rub off the dirt to see what colors the beads had. She gasped in surprise when she saw the white and green beads show through the dirt.

An image flashed through her mind just then. Same necklace sitting around the neck of a male Na'vi, a male with dark yellow eyes, a Na'vi she'd met in a dream a month or so back. This was Ateyo's necklace, the one he had been given from his mate, Tsu'tey's mother.

Letting the necklace slide back in the leather pouch, she put it in her own pouch she had attached to her hip and decided that she would clean it, before giving it to Tsu'tey when she felt the time was right.

Hearing Jake call out, ready to return back to Hometree, she rose and hurried back to her pa'li. She jumped up while making the bond, and joined the other riders behind Jake.

* * *

While riding back, towards Hometree in a moderate pace, next to a river, Jake suddenly slowed down and did the sign for 'look' and 'be careful' and pointed to a big _pxiut_, or razor palm, growing very close to the path they were taking. The wind was blowing softly, making the razor sharp leaves move awfully close to the path.

It would take too long to go back and take another path, so Jake urged on and walked slowly past the big plant with his pa'li, then turning around and waved to the others, making them come one at a time.

"_Go on, sister."_ Norm said and indicated he would be coming after her, and after him would Rai'nek come, as he was Jake's helper today.

Sarah made her pa'li, Mara, move slowly forward, passing the plant. But as they almost had cleared the plant, a soft wind moved the leaves, cutting Mara over her haunch. Sarah felt the pain and the urge to get away from the harmful plant, and was overwhelmed of the feeling, letting go of her control and could only go along when Mara ran past the other hunters.

Mara stopped after about twenty meters, when she came upon a big log lying in her path. She skidded to a halt and threw Sarah off, the Avatar driver flew over the pa'li's head and landed in a couple of bushes.

At first, she only felt the need to get her breath back, but then, moving around to get up, she hissed in pain, feeling how her whole right shoulder burning.

Turning to her knees slowly, she wanted to see what it was that had hurt her, she then saw that she had landed right on top of a cactus plant, the _ele'wll_, or the thorny paw. Knowing that it could shoot more spines at her if she remained and disturbed it more, she took her chances and got up quickly, jumping over the log and falling down on her knees in front of Mara, who stood there, breathing hard.

"Sarah, why is it always you that get hurt?" Norm said in a worried voice, he had hurried past the razor palm when he saw Sarah's pa'li being spooked and now he jumped off his pa'li and crouched next to his sister.

"I've always had an affinity for it. Remember when Uncle Frank told us to not climb on that rackety pile of junk?" She groaned when she looked over her shoulder to see one, two… seven spines sticking out of her.

"Yeah, you ended up with a broken arm." He shook his head at the memory, remembering that if there was something she wasn't allowed to do when she was younger, she had done it. She had mellowed out as she got older, but her affinity to get hurt was still there.

"_How bad is it?"_ She asked when Jake and the other hunters came up to them.

"_I can't take them out, Mo'at have to take a look at this."_ He motioned to one of the others to take Mara home by binding a rope to her head.

He then told Norm to help her up behind Rai'nek, as he was the best rider in this group and he would get through the jungle much faster than any of them now, and he would ride much smoother too, not hurting Sarah further.

Telling his Olo'eyktan that he would ride fast and carefully, and telling Normspellman that his sister was safe with him, Rai'nek took off, Sarah holding a firm grip around the male's torso.

* * *

It was late afternoon, and Neytiri and Mo'at had just finished putting a new fresh bandage on Tsu'tey's back and they had moved him outside, making him sit down, quite comfortably considering his wound, by the fire.

The Tsahìk and her daughter talked to Tsu'tey about Sarah's progress, and he had to admit she would be ready to go through with the Iknimaya as soon she had made the obligatory kill of a hexapede. Even though killing the palulukan would have been sufficient, but they all three felt she had to show them she hadn't just been lucky when she made her kill.

"_Tsahìk! Tsahìk_!" The children's voices were filled with worry and urgency as they rushed to her.

Getting up, she stepped forward to meet them; holding out her arms, stopping them from talking all at one time.

"_Mawey, take a deep breath and one tell me why you are here_." She crouched down to their level, looking at them.

One little girl, around eight-years-old or so, stepped closer to Mo'at, worry evident in her eyes.

"_Rai'nek told us to tell you, that she's been hurt when riding_." The words came out fast and only told her that a female had been hurt when riding.

"_Who, child_?"

"_Older sister Sarah. She fell off and hurt herself, very much, she's bleeding and has needles sticking out her back._" The tears began to fall from the girls eyes, feeling really sad, knowing that their kind big sister was hurt.

Mo'at's eyes widened and she began to think what 'needles' that had hurt Sarah. Hoping it wasn't any of the poisonous plants, but she could not know, not until they came here.

"_I don't think Eywa will want her soon, child. You did a good job telling me_." She stroked her thumb over the girl's cheek and nudged her forehead with her own, comforting her.

Standing up, she looked to Neytiri and Tsu'tey, both looking worried.

"_Bring her to my nest when she comes_." She then called on her healers, saying to fetch water and other things that might come in handy.

* * *

When Tsu'tey heard the female youngling say Sarah was injured, impaled with needles and bleeding, he got an odd feeling in the pit of his stomach and wanted to run and meet her, to see if she was alright. He had felt like this before, when the palulukan had jumped for her and he believed her dead. It was something he never would like to feel again, but he had a feeling he would, several times over, when she became a part of the Omaticaya.

Keeping his face turned to the entrance, he imagined many horrible things before he saw Kei'at, the scout, come through on his pa'li, followed by Rai'nek who was linked, but walked next to his pa'li, where Sarah laid over its back.

She was holding her arms around its neck, keeping herself up, her back exposed for all to see. She was conscious, but her pain was evident with every step the pa'li took. The needles were jogged with every movement, as they would have been if anyone had carried her.

Blood was still coming out of the wounds, but it had almost stopped by itself. Still, the blood had spilled over her back and side, reaching down to her hips.

Coming to a stop where Tsu'tey and Neytiri were waiting, they both walked around to her left side, where she had her head, not wanting to see the needles sitting in her right shoulder.

Tsu'tey looked at her wounds, seeing that the spines were from a plant that grew low on the ground. He looked back to her face, seeing her cheeks streaked with tears.

Mo'at had seen them arrive and hurried out to look if it was needed to give her some antidote, if there was poison in her body. Looking at the needles, she gently touched the skin around them.

Feeling a burning pain in her shoulder, Sarah hissed and clenched her teeth together.

"_These are not poisonous, but they will hurt to remove, as I have to go slow, so I won't accidentally break them off in your body. Then we will never get them out."_

"_Great…"_ Sarah sighed, frowning slightly.

"_Maybe you should go back to your tawtute body, you wouldn't feel the pain and you would be still enough for me to pull the spines out."_ Mo'at suggested to her.

"_Really, I could get away from the pain?"_ She cheered up a bit hearing that. Anything to get rid of this pain, she began to feel nauseous too, hoping she wouldn't throw up.

Then Jake and the other warriors came riding, Norm almost threw himself of his pa'li to get through to his sister.

"_Is she fine? Was the plant poisonous?"_ He babbled, much worried.

"_Shouldn't you know that?"_ Neytiri looked at him. "_You love the plants so much and know many things about them."_

"_I should, but I was worried for her sake, so I couldn't think."_ He blushed and looked apologetically at Sarah.

"_She will be fine Normspellman, the spines are just difficult to get out and so she should go back to her tawtute body for the time being."_ Mo'at motioned for two of her healers to gently life the female down from the pa'li and to move her to the healing nest.

"Tell Max to pull me out and to have a bucket ready, I feel sick…" Sarah said to Norm, giving him a small smile before closing her eyes in pain and nausea.

Five minutes later, she lies on the floor in the healing nest and a second after that, she opens her eyes to see the inside of the link-up, the soft yellow light making her head spin and stomach churn.

Opening the lid, she saw Max stand next to her link with a bucket in his hands. Sitting up as fast as she can, she ripped the bucket from his hands and threw up the breakfast she had this morning.

* * *

A few hours later, Norm contacted Hells Gate, telling them that Mo'at took out all pieces of the cactus plant and that the small wounds would heal within a week or so. Wondering if she would come back to the avatar body, even if it were a few hours left until she was going to sleep anyway, Norm got a negative answer to that.

The nausea Sarah had felt in her Avatar body had nothing to do with her injury, but the weakened state her human body was in. To be on the safe side, Max had put her on an IV therapy concoction consisting of vitamins, minerals, fluid and a mild antibiotic, given the fact Sarah wasn't so active in her human body anymore.

"Norm, if your sister continues to push herself more, she might kill herself slowly and mess up her mind so much that she'll never be able to link again."

"I know, Max… but I have never seen her being this happy before. It's like she is meant to be here."

"Maybe you should ask Mo'at if Eywa would accept Sarah and make her mind stay in her Avatar body?" Max suggested, before telling Norm that Sarah would be back first thing in the morning.

Ending the connection, Norm lowered his shoulders in defeat. He had known that prolonged link with the avatar body would make the human body weaker, due to the lack of exercise and that the mind would start to believe that the avatar body was the real body. The mind could eventually reject the human 'husk' and put both bodies in a coma, making it really difficult to ever link again, if the person ever woke up from the coma.

So far, Eywa had only provided for Jake and himself, allowing them to live in their avatar bodies permanently. Jake had transferred after the war and he himself had been granted the same after they had found the new Hometree.

He would love to for Sarah to become one of the people; they still had a lot catching up to do. Six years apart is a very long time. Even though they had spent that time in cryo, rushing through space, they had only been apart for more than a year, as he had left around six months earlier than her.

Before he could ask Mo'at to ask Eywa, he must first know Sarah's viewpoint of it all. Would she even be interested in becoming a Na'vi full time? Not having to jump in and out of the link every night and bury her human body where he had buried his? Deciding he would talk to her the next day, he walked down from the tree; from the quieter place he had gone to when he had contacted Max. It was easier to think when you didn't have several inquiring hovering people hanging over your shoulder.

Going to Mo'at's nest, he saw Sarah lying on a soft skin, her back bandaged expertly and the bloodied spines lay on a leaf, waiting to be tossed away or cleaned for being used as needles by the weavers.

"_Will she return soon?"_ Mo'at asked when she felt Norm's presence. She was cleaning up and putting the unused bandages back in their place. Neytiri was sitting next to his sister, giving the sleeping body comfort.

"_No, not tonight. Her human body needed more rest this time. It is starting to become weaker as this body becomes stronger."_ He said, motioned to the unmoving body on the floor.

Mo'at heard the truthfulness in his voice, having gotten the explanation many years ago from Grace, that if a human stayed too long in the dream-walker body, the smaller, more fragile body, would soon loose muscles and eventually the will to live, as the spirit was not there to fight for its survival.

"_Ma 'ite, I must soon go and ask Eywa if She would want another dream-walking child to become one of her children."_ Mo'at turned to Neytiri and then Norm. "_But the child must want that as well."_

"_I will speak to her tomorrow, Tsahìk."_ Norm said and bowed to her willingness to ask Eywa of permission.

"_Do so, Normspellman. If your sister has a strong reason to stay with us, there would be no problem, I think."

* * *

_

She looked awful.

Just a ghost of her former self.

Sarah stood in the women's dressing room, having only her underwear and bra on and she did not like what her human body had become.

Pale skin, lanky hair, her elbows and knees stood out, showing the bones. She looked tired, dark rings around her eyes. She was almost disgusted with herself, for letting herself go like this.

Before, she had been healthily plump, maybe just two pounds over her ideal weight, for a woman in her age and being just above 5'7.

Now, she looked like one that had fallen victim to any kind of drugs that circulated back on Earth. She knew that her human body would not manage to keep this up for much longer. Max had warned her before, when he had put her on IV, if she didn't take a longer break soon, she would most likely collapse.

Max had suggested that if her Avatar body was wounded, she should bring it back to Hells Gate and let the doctors here check her body over, while she rested her human body and got some food and exercise to help her build up her defenses.

It sounded like a good idea, and she would ask Tsu'tey if it would be alright with him, since they both were wounded and they couldn't hunt with their wounds at this moment.

Sighing, she began to pull on her clothes and headed down to the link room.

* * *

"You sure you're fine?" Norm asked for the eight time since they'd left Hometree for a walk in the surrounding jungle.

"Yes, Mo'at's sedative herbs really work like magic." She patted her bandage over and around her right shoulder gently, giving her older brother a reassuring smile.

After she had returned to her Avatar body the next day, Mo'at had told her to not overdo any movements with her right arm, as it could rip the bandage and open the wounds even more, getting them infected. Then after the morning meal, Norm had asked her to take a walk with him, talking about things.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Sarah asked and looked to him.

Sighing, Norm tried to find the right words.

"Max told me that your other body is getting weaker."

"Oh." Her shoulders slumped a bit, and she let out a soft sigh.

"Yeah. And we've both gone through the manual, so 'prolonged use of the Avatar body…'"

"…'can lead to losing consciousness, mental shutdown i.e. comatose and/or other implications, if the exercise of the Avatar body will exceed the suggested time spent away from the Human body.' Or something similar to that. I know."

Norm saw his sisters defeated expression, knowing that she thought of the day when she wouldn't be able to link anymore. She would be crushed when that happened. So would he.

"Knowing that and that my guess is that you dread the day when your link will permanently fail, I want to ask you something."

Sarah looked to him, somewhat confused.

"Yeah, what?"

"If you got the 'go ahead' from Mo'at, and Eywa of course, would you want to permanently link with your Avatar, like me and Jake?" He quirked his lips in a small grin and then saw how her expression went from confusion, to realization and lastly to her 'you're not shitting me now, right?'-mode.

"I would be really honored and I would really, really, really want to do that." She grinned and jumped him, hugging him close.

Norm hugged her back, happy that she would want to join them for real and leave her human body behind.

"There's a 'but' though…" He said, still giving her a smile. "Mo'at just wants you to have a strong reason to move from your human body, so you will manage the transfer through Eywa's eye."

This made Sarah put a pause with her overexcitement, was there a strong enough reason for her to go through with all this?

Sure, she wanted to let go of her old life, not being dependant of her human body anymore. But it would be strange to not have to link out in the evenings, sleep in a bed, get up and go to link again the next morning. She would also have to bury her human body, Norm had told her that his was buried in a pretty place near the Tree of Souls and maybe they would bury hers there as well.

It felt strange to think of one's own burial, when you probably would wake up in the other body a few moments later.

"Mo'at didn't say when she would go and ask Eywa, so my guess is that you have to pass your Iknimaya first." Norm said, quenching her excitement further, not liking it one bit when he saw the seriousness in his words sink in.

"Yeah, if that doesn't kill me…" She murmured, looking up in the sky, seeing a few ikran flying over them, returning with their hunters.

"It won't, you're strong, both in mind and heart." He laid his arm over her shoulders and led her towards the path back to Hometree.

"Let's hope so." She sighed and came to think of something. "Norm? When you get your ikran, which female will you choose? I haven't seen you look at anyone special. Or I haven't noticed it…"

Norm blushed and coughed in embarrassment at her question. The truth was that he had been looking at one particular female, but she didn't seem to notice him very much.

"Well, I have… but I don't think she…" He began to blabber, looking slightly uncomfortable.

"You don't have to tell me, if you don't want to." She grinned at his ability to get his tongue tied when it came to speaking of girls. He had been living the true life of the science nerd, reading books and taking samples and other science things, girls had come in second hand, but he had had a few girlfriends back on Earth, but they had never stayed for long.

"Good, 'cause I won't." He relaxed and then turned to her with a smirk of his own. "How about you? Is there anyone I should be worried about, someone who might do unspeakable things with my innocent baby sister?"

She almost laughed at the 'innocent' part. If he knew, he would probably go back to Earth and get her old boyfriends here to Pandora and feed the nearest palulukan with them for breaking her heart. She had been romantically involved with four guys, several one-nighters, but no true love.

"There might be one, but I doubt he would choose me." She said, letting her mind wander to what might be.

* * *

When Sarah returned to Hometree with Norm, he had to go and train with Jake and as Sarah could not do anything with her arm injured, she went to see Mo'at, who took a look at her wounds, seeing that the young female had not done anything reckless with her arm to injure it further.

Asking Mo'at when she thought her wounds would be healed; the Tsahìk said that she thought it would take four days before she could begin with archery again. Then Sarah asked if it would take the same time for Tsu'tey to heal.

Mo'at was not surprised; she just smiled in a knowingly way and told Sarah that Tsu'tey's wounds would take maybe a day longer than hers to heal, more or less.

Thanking Mo'at for her answers, Sarah went to find Tsu'tey. She asked some children, who told her Tsu'tey was sitting where the weapon makers, sharpening his weapons.

The weapon makers lived in a nest much like Mo'at's, a big hollow in the tree's trunk, where they had gathered every material they needed to make bows, arrows, knifes, spears and other sharp things needed in the daily life of a Na'vi.

Seeing Tsu'tey sitting on a log, sharpening his long knife with calculated rhythmic motions, she walked up to him, not bothering to announce her arrival, he already knew she was there.

"_Kaltxì Tsu'tey, may I speak with you?"_ She greeted him and sat down when he indicated her to take a seat on the log he sat on, continuing to sharpen his knife. He paused in his rhythmic movements; he felt with his thumb on the edge and determined it was sharp enough.

"_Hand me your knife and speak."_ He held out his hand flat, curling it a few times in an instantly recognizable gesture.

Reaching down to her hip, she pulled out her knife from its sheath, turning it and giving him it, handle first. He looked at her blade, frowning at the condition it was in, laid it over his leg and began to sharpen one side.

Sarah didn't know what to think about this gesture. A hunter was taught to care for his/her own weapons, being taught by the weapon makers at an early stage, so she should have looked after her knife better. If she would have gone out in the jungle with a blunt knife, she would probably be unable to defend herself well enough against an animal. This meant that Tsu'tey cared for her safety and it made her like him even more.

"_I spoke to Mo'at. She thinks my arm will be good enough in four days."_ She moved said arm, wincing when the muscles protested. "_And she thinks your back will be better in five."_ Looking to the big bandage over his back, she felt gratitude for his actions that day.

Tsu'tey heard her, and thought also on the day he had received them. Looking to her, he saw her outstretched leg gracefully resting over the other, crossing at the ankle, and on her upper thigh, a long scar, 12 inches, marred the smooth skin, giving her an individual look. Following the line of small dots, he wandered up over her flat stomach, over her leather covered chest and then up to her moving lips, which visibly said something tha he didn't hear. Then catching himself looking much longer than a male usually looked at his friend, he turned his gaze back to her knife, turning it over and sharpening the other side.

"…_is that alright with you?"_ She finished, looking at him. "_Tsu'tey?"_

Tsu'tey looked up and saw her look at him expectantly, obviously wanting an answer.

"_What?"_

"_I said, since I can't train these five days, may I go to _Hells Gate_ and rest both my dream-walking body and my tawtute body?"_ She had seen him look at her with a distant gaze, but she didn't think much of it, until he reacted like someone not listening to a word she had said.

"_Why rest your tawtute body? It does just lie in the dream box, doing nothing."_

"_That's the problem. While my spirit is here…" _She pointed to herself_. "My other body slowly grows slow and soon will give up to live, as I am not there to fight for my survival."_ She saw tha he did not understand and tried to think of a way to explain it to him.

Looking around, she saw a bowl with fruit and picked up one of them.

"_Here, look at this fruit. If you think that this is my tawtute body and the tree it comes from is my spirit, okay?"_ She got a nod and hoped that this would not sound stupid. "_When the fruit is connected to the tree, it grows, right? But what happens when the fruit is picked from the tree and you leave the fruit to lie on the ground?"_

"_It rots." _He said simply, almost understanding where she was getting at.

"_Yeah. So will my other body, if I don't get out from the dream box and rest my spirit from dream walking, my tawtute body will rot and I will never be able to dream again."_

That got his attention.

"_Never dream?"_ Tsu'tey sounded like he usually did, non emotional, but he was really upset at the prospect of her never being able to dream-walk again. Then he would never see her, only in her tawtute form, and it would not be the same. Not at this point.

"_Never. If my body rots, my spirit will not find its way back and I will neither dream nor die. I will be trapped between my tawtute body and this body."_ It sounded really horrible, but it was the truth.

"_You go then. But when both you and I are better, we'll go hunt."_ He decided, giving her back her much sharper knife.

"_Agreed. I will fly with Jake back to _Hells Gate_, when you are better, will you fly there and get me?"_ She asked, hoping he would say yes.

Looking at her, he was pleased to hear that she would rather have him to pick her up. He would have flown her there, but with his back, Mo'at would probably tie him to the tree if he tried to do anything that might hurt him more.

"_I will find you on the fifth day."_ He promised.

* * *

**Authors note:** Current time here is 02.08am. That means that if this chapter doesn't make any sense somewhere, tell me, and I shall fix it. My muse usually wakes up around 9pm and keeps me writing till now.

Hope you liked this chapter. Can't wait to read your reviews.

Ps. You might want to know that I have already chapter 11 and 12 planned out, I have written down everything I want to happen in each chapter, so they're waiting to get fully written. (That doesn't mean that you can't come with ideas :P)

And…. I have written a chapter (probably 13, maybe 14, don't know yet) almost completely now. And that chapter will be M-rated! So no people under age. If you're squeamish, don't like intimate situations, you should abandon this story, or wait until the chapter after that comes up.

Any thoughts on that? Ds.


	11. Resting, Trials & Prelude to Iknimaya

**Disclaimer:** Don't own, never will, sadly.

**Authors note: **Finally the long awaited chapter 11! It's a really long chapter, over 8000 words =) So I hope it was worth the wait.

The laziness of this chapter was a minor writer's block and a period of four days of sickness (bad cold), which I still am struggling with. So some minor parts of this have been written in feverish deliriousness, so forgive me for any sentences that is weird and misspelled words. I have had my spelling checked by two different programs, but since they are made by humans, there might be some missed things.

Enough of my chatter and enjoy the chapter.

Lunatic.

Ps. Give me many reviews *grins* I deserve it for giving you a chapter this long :P ds.

* * *

Chapter 11 – Resting, Trials & Prelude to Iknimaya.

* * *

As soon as Jake had dumped her at Hells Gate, a small horde of doctors and scientist wanted to get her inside of the medical facility, back to the room she had first woken up in.

They, three of them, not including Max, followed her, writing down notes as they observed her while walking, discussing everything they thought important.

She put up with it, but now she realized how the Na'vi must feel when the scientists came to poke and prod them. The final straw came when she was inside the sterile room, when one of the males grabbed hold of her tail, wanting to get a better look. Whipping around, Sarah grabbed the, in her viewpoint, little man and lifted him up above the floor.

"Don't ever pull my tail." She hissed, baring her fangs and making the man shake his head hurriedly while she set him down slowly on the floor again.

Max stood in the link room, looking down through the reinforced observation window, he grinned and shook his head at Sarah's reaction.

'_Take it easy Sarah. He's not gonna dissect you or anything.'_ His amusement was heard through the com system and Sarah turned around to glare at the scientist.

'_He better not. And no touching more than necessary, only those scans you needed, then you'll let my body rest without interference.'_ She retorted, glaring at the small doctors with a 'touch me and you're dead'-look. They wisely backed off, letting the tall Avatar driver sit down on the bed and arrange her tail comfortably, not wanting it to get squished between her and the bed.

Before she lay down, she pulled off her leather pouch from her hip and gave it to one of the doctors.

"Take this with you to the link room, don't open it. It's just a few trinkets, but I want them with me while I 'rest'. Okay?"

The man nodded and walked through a smaller door, leading to the link room, waiting for the transfer to be broken.

Sarah sighed and lay down on the bed, closing her eyes and felt the familiar pull. And in a second, she was in the grey dream box, feeling weaker than she had ever done before. Reality hit her, and she knew that she would really need this rest, Max would probably insist on more rest than a measly week. But she had to go through with the final step and make everyone proud.

Pushing up the lid, she groaned when she got out, finding her slippers she used when she was indoors and shuffled in them. They were the standard issued slippers that the RDA had provided, they were an ugly grey color with yellow stripes, but they were rather comfy.

"What's in the pouch?" Max asked as he came up to her link, looking her over and seeing the fatigue in her eyes.

"A fixer-upper, something for me to do while I'm here, so I won't go nuts." She picked the pouch up, opening it and saw that everything was still there. "Call it 'therapy' if you'd like."

Max shook his head at her implication that she was a patient that needed therapy to get back to health. A part of it was true, but her injuries to the Avatar body had come at a good time, forcing her to rest and exercise her human body.

"No therapy today though. I want you to eat, shower and get an IV inserted before you go to bed and you will sleep until noon at least." He said with a no nonsense tone in his voice.

"Fine." She grumbled and felt like she was eight and being put to bed by the babysitter way too early, according to her.

* * *

The days went on rather quickly after her disconnection with her avatar body. The second day she had actually tried to get back in the link, only to find that her key-card didn't admit her entrance into the link room. Asking Max, he confessed to having suspended her access to the link, since he figured she would try to get back in. She wasn't the first reluctantly disconnected driver he had dealt with. She let it be then and went for the second best, being outside with the other drivers and the few Na'vi that lived with them.

She had been with a Na'vi woman, Tse'nire, for the most time. The female knew how to braid things, mostly hair, but Sarah had pulled out the scorched necklace she had found and asked the braider to show her how to repair the necklace and make into more of an arm bracelet than a necklace. Thinking that kind of jewelry would suit the fierce warrior more than a necklace. He wouldn't have room for one anyway, as he had his big beadwork neckpiece on most of the time.

First she practiced with regular beads, so she would get the technique of braiding the beads into the pattern she wanted. When she got the hang of it, she took a picture of the scorched necklace, before she cut away the old leather, so she would know how the pieces would sit. She then made sure all the holes in the small beads, for a Na'vi, were clean and then she made sure the beads were clean, washing them and drying them individually, caring for them one at a time.

She then slowly began to braid the beads and the new leather and twine together, making a bracelet take shape. When she was done, it was a bit crooked, said Tse'nire, but she did braids and jewelry with perfection, as she had many years of practice, but for a beginner, it was really great work.

Her days were also filled with sessions in the workout room, where she tried to get more muscles on her and she ate protein drinks and food, so she would get some more fat for her body to burn off when she was in active. After four days, she looked much healthier than she had done, her skin glowed again, no black circles around her eyes and she felt less fatigued.

On the afternoon of the fourth day, she was allowed back into her avatar body. She had argued that she needed to see if the wounds were healed and if they were, she needed to exercise her muscles, so she would be able to survive out in the jungle.

Getting back to her blue body, she felt like she was home again, like the human body she had come from wasn't really her. Not her true self, not anymore.

Removing the bandages, one of the nurses cleaned up the shoulder and saw that new skin had formed and though the area was a bit tender, it was healed. Following an exercise routine the nurse showed her, Sarah felt her muscles slowly ease up and her arm felt better after a while. She took a walk outside around the compound, with Gina, telling her about the whole palulukan incident and other things she wanted to know about the life in and around Hometree. She also was talked into re-braiding her braids, as her hair had grown quite a bit since the last time Tse'nire had made them the first time. Sarah had let another female braid her hair about two months ago, but apparently with everything that had happened since had made her braids loosen up and it didn't look too good, at least Tse'nire thought so. So now she sported freshly braided hair. All of her hair was done into long braids, reaching down over her shoulders, slightly longer than Neytiri's, and Tse'nire had respectfully asked if she also would be allowed to braid the hair covering Sarah's queue, which she had been allowed to do.

After the long braiding session, almost eight hours, it lasted to late night. But Tse'nire didn't mind as they talked the whole time about everything and nothing. She also made Sarah promise to return when she had gotten her ikran, so she would see the new hunter on her mount.

* * *

Then finally, the fifth day arrived. Sarah made sure to bathe her Avatar, clean her Na'vi clothes, eat well and exercise her arm. She wanted to be ready when Tsu'tey came to get her.

Around noon, she was sitting under one of the few big trees with Gina, lounging about with her, when a loud shriek rang above them in the sky. Looking up, they saw an ikran getting closer, closing in fast and shifting into a landing stance, before he began to flap his wings hard and land on the big lawn.

Tsu'tey swung off Ralu with ease, his back all better now, though his skin was still tender and he had promised Mo'at to be careful and not do anything rash yet. He scanned the area, a bit annoyed when he didn't see the female at once, waiting for him.

Then, a movement from the shadows of a big tree, two females moved with grace out in the sun, one dressed in human clothes and the other dressed in garments of a Na'vi. At first, he didn't recognize the Na'vi female; she was rather attractive at this distance. Then he did a double take, seeing that it was her, the female. She had obviously benefitted from this respite, looking rested and alert, just as a hunter should be.

He saw her hug the other female goodbye and then she began to approach him. Taking in her appearance, he couldn't help but notice the actual grace she had in every step she took, how her hips moved in a rather enticing way. When she got closer, he also saw her hair was different, less disheveled than it had been five days ago. Someone must have re-braided it for her, he determined.

The white beads in her hair had also been moved around, alternating between sitting in groups and being one by one.

"_Kaltxì, Tsu'tey. Had a good flight?"_ She greeted as she came closer, stopping a few meters away from him and Ralu, wary of the ikran's mood.

"_It was uneventful. Has your tawtute body stopped rotting?" _He asked politely, but he really wanted to know if she would stay dreaming.

She smiled at him, happy that he cared for her wellbeing.

"_For now, I might have to go back after Iknimaya though, but then I will have my own mount to take me here."_

"_Good." _He nodded and was about to say something more, when Max came running over the grass, making Ralu hiss at the fast approaching human.

"Skxawng! Do not approach ikran like that!" Tsu'tey yelled at Max, who stopped behind Sarah.

She turned her back to Tsu'tey and Ralu, looking annoyingly at Max.

"Did I forget something?"

"Well, eh… could you bring this to Norm? He needs to read this. It's what we have figured out so far." He held out a small, in her eyes, data pad, with buttons to scroll up and down, made to work for a Na'vi.

"Fine. If Jake asks, I'll tell him you smuggled it into my bag." She pulled off the leather pouch she had tied over her shoulder and back, opened it and let Max put the pad inside.

"I'll see you later, Sarah." He smiled and returned towards the compound.

Tsu'tey saw the smile the little human male gave her; he liked the female. That made Tsu'tey angry, wanting to hurt the little male for even looking at the female. One thing that stopped him was the annoyance she radiated when she spoke with him and her tail showed that she really was upset with the little male, meaning that she wouldn't consider being more than a friend to the small human male.

Bonding with Ralu, Tsu'tey felt irritation coming from the ikran; he also didn't like the human male.

'_Child male leave friends mate be.'_ He hissed, tensing his muscles as to pounce on the retreating male.

"_Mawey Ralu."_ Tsu'tey said, patting his neck soothingly.

"_I guess he wants to leave?"_ Sarah had turned and interpreted the hiss and the movements of Ralu to be antsy and wishing to fly away from the open area.

"_We both do."_ He jumped up, urging Ralu closer to her and reached down one hand to help her up.

"_Thank you."_ She grabbed his hand and let him swing her up behind him. Holding on to his torso, they flew away from Hells Gate, returning to Hometree.

* * *

While they were flying, Sarah saw his newly healed wounds up close and felt really grateful for him trying to save her that day. Letting go of his torso with one hand, she softly traced the scars over his back.

Tsu'tey felt her soft touch, decided that he didn't mind that much and turned his eyes forward.

After a while she stopped, returned her hand back around his torso, making him want more of her soft touches.

Neither said anything for the rest of the flight.

* * *

Two days after Sarah had returned to Hometree with Tsu'tey, it was time for another experience for the males and females that were to be hunters. They were to experience a group hunt, led by Olo'eyktan and Tsu'tey.

The prey they were after was, at least one of them, the big _Talioang, _or sturmbeest. To take down one of these, they needed to be great in number, as the big animal was a force to be reckoned with.

It took more than half a day to locate a rather big heard, their number was about sixty, and they decided to stay the night, climbing into trees and settling down for the night.

During the night, it was two of the party that held guard for about one hour. Sarah sat with Rai'nek during her hour in the middle of the night and when they would change, he gave her the task to wake Tsu'tey. He grinned as she trudged towards the tree the warrior slept in. Giving her a fair warning first, that Tsu'tey could be a real grouch when woken in the night.

Silently she climbed up and sat on a slimmer branch next to the spacious one he rested on. Reaching out her hand to touch his shoulder, she paused and observed him for a moment. In his sleep, Tsu'tey was more relaxed than she had ever seen him before. He even almost smiled, but that might be her imagination playing in a bit. He slept on his back, signifying that he was confident in himself and not fearing the animals that might come in the night to attack him.

When he suddenly shifted a bit, she held her breath, but when he didn't wake up, she continued to look at him, seeing his bioluminescent spots shine in the darkness, making her fingers itch to touch them, drawing patterns between them. She was most fascinated by the dotted lines that were on his abs and stomach, leading down over this torso to his hips; they were forming a diamond shape, the tip starting just over his navel and the lines disappeared under his loincloth. She was very curious to see the whole pattern.

Reaching out her hand once more, she touched his shoulder gently and nudged him softly.

Faster than she could see and react, his hand shot out and took a hold of her hand that had touched him, holding it very hard, until he saw who it was, then he let her go.

Her wrist throbbed and she pulled it close to her body, looking at him with both a bit of fear and respect of his strength.

"_It's your turn to guard."_ She said softly, rubbing her wrist with her other hand.

Tsu'tey knew he was a real grouch when woken up like this in the middle of the night, even if he knew that he would be woken like this. Seeing her hold her wrist, he got up, crouched on his wider branch and reached out for her. He got hold of her elbow and pulled her down to where he sat and without a word, he took the wrist he had grabbed and looked it over, smoothing his thumbs over the soft skin.

She didn't really know what to think of his tender behavior, it was very similar to that time when the other clan had come for a visit and she had almost gotten her queue ripped off. But his behavior was not undesirable, quite the opposite in fact. He really could take care of her, if he wanted to. His soft movements made her sigh softly, the pain ebbing away and she felt much better.

"_Thank you, Tsu'tey…"_ She said, giving him a soft smile and her eyes showed him gratitude.

"_Sleep."_ Was his reply, indicating that she could take the branch he had been sleeping on, as he let go of her and jumped with ease to the branch she had been on.

He disappeared in the night, leaving her wondering if these things meant something from the view of an unmated female. She still thought like a human, not knowing everything about how an unmated female should act; only if she still were human, she would have probably considered this male as a mate. Maybe she should?

* * *

Adrenaline flowed through her veins; her slight fear and respect for the big animal made her focus more than she had ever done before. She was sitting in a tree, seeing how three big talioang males ran around, trying to catch the four Na'vi hunters who ran in front of them, luring them closer to the trap they had set up.

Keeping her bow tight, an arrow already notched, she waited with the others to get a good aim on the beast, Jake and Tsu'tey had already explained which areas to shoot on. She would try to get a bull's eye on the eyes of the animals, hoping to repeat her luck she had had before.

Tsu'tey sat in a tree above her, placed so he could see both her and the animals coming closer. He saw her close her eyes for a short moment, then she opened them, exhaled and let her arrow fly. It hit the slowest of the three animals, just above its eyes, in the soft skin there. It roared in pain, picking up speed and ramming the tree in front of it, fortunately there wasn't anyone sitting in it, or else they would have fallen down.

More arrows flew through the air, blinding the three animals, but it didn't make them stop rushing about, trying to find someone to kill. One of the bigger ones knocked over a tree, which regrettably Norm was perching in. He fell down with a terrified scream, landing roughly on his ass, but he was not injured and could get up, diving for cover in some bushes when a talioang came rushing by. Sarah shifted in her place, wanting to get down there and help her brother. She was about to put her bow over her back, beginning to climb down, but then she heard a raged cry echo over her, and she saw Tsu'tey jump down, his face twisted in focused rage. He had his spear pointed downwards in attack, and he flew through the air, landing on the back of the biggest animal, and drove the spear through its neck, twisting it hard and made the beast fall down dead.

The whole thing was over in less than a minute, but in Sarah's mind, everything was repeated in slow-motion. His muscles had been tensed, showing off his strong and lean body. His strong arms that had gripped the spear, the strength needed when he had driven it through the thick neck of the animal, his determination when he had twisted the spear around, efficiently ending the animal's life. His tail swished wildly, showing his excitement of the hunt and the kill he had made.

When she looked at him, she felt flushed, a warmth flowing all over her body. If she had been in her human body, she would most defiantly be very horny and wanting to go somewhere private and take care of business, so to speak. Licking her lips, she felt parched and uncomfortable, rising to stand up, she then felt strange down there, feeling like she would have done in her human body; moist and unfulfilled.

Biting back a frustrated groan, she jumped down a few branches, hoping no one would notice.

But two people had noticed. The first was Norm, he had seen his sister's eyes glaze over, while she was looking at Tsu'tey and how he made the big kill of the day. Seeing her lick her lips while she looked at the warrior made him get queasy and lightly angry, not knowing what she saw in the rude male. She was too good for him, if she even considered to mate him, or he her.

The second one who noticed her dreamy eyed look, was the object of her admiration, Tsu'tey. He grinned appreciatively when he realized she admired his strength and capability to take down an animal with greater size than himself. Making sure she really watched, he pulled out his spear from the thick neck, blood oozing down over the animal's skin, covering the ground in its red color, he held the spear high and cried out in victory. He thought he saw her shudder with ill concealed excitement when she leaned to the trunk of the tree she was standing in, holding herself up.

Jakesully then called all the hunters down, when the last animal had been taken care of. Now began the tedious task of cutting the meat in pieces quickly, before any scavengers came to try and claim some of the meat.

Sarah took a deep breath, hoping no one would notice her 'condition', before she got down on the ground and looked around to find her arrows she had released. It was good she had marked them with her own signature colors – white and blue stripes, made of string she had taken from Hells Gate, around the upper end of the arrow, with dark yellow feathers. Almost the color of Tsu'tey's eyes…

She found three of the five she had released, thinking that the other two must have been crushed under some of the animals. She then walked to the big beast Tsu'tey had put down, and brandished her knife and began to help out with cutting the meat into pieces, carrying them to the skin of the animal they had cut off, using it for a big sack, which the ikran would carry later, when Jake and some of the other hunters would call for their rides.

Getting her hands, arms and chest covered in fresh warm blood, Sarah took many carrying trips to the skin, deposing the meat in a pile. It was hard work, but when they were done, it would feed the clan for many moons.

After about two hours of cutting the meat, they were almost done, when Sarah took one of her last carrying trips, she saw several dark shadows move about in the bushes, and it was still early afternoon, so that would mean…

"_Nantang!"_ She hissed loudly and turned to her fellow hunters, Jake and Tsu'tey was by her side in an instant, looking to where she pointed. They both nodded, seeing the small beasts lurking around, waiting for a chance to get to the meat. Jake called out for everyone to hurry and then he and Rai'nek cried out, up in the sky. After a few minutes, their two ikran came crashing down through the trees, landing in the center of the area, both getting fresh meat for waiting around and for the task they would now do.

It would be heavy, but the two ikran would make it back with this meat, they had before. While Jake and Rai'nek strapped on a specially made harness on their friends, Tsu'tey ordered the others to be on their guard, especially with this much blood around and on them.

Hurrying her steps, she carried more meat to the skin, constantly watching the undergrowth and the shadows that moved there, with their gleaming eyes watching them. When they figure out that the Na'vi won't attack them just yet, a few steps out in the sun, sitting down and watching them in the open, growling and hissing, trying to get the blue people to go away from the fresh meat.

In her hurry to the skin, she stumbled and landed with a thud on the ground, the smaller pieces of meat was thrown out of her hands, making the nantang growl excitedly and a few younger, more reckless ones, saw their chance and made a dash for the scattered meat, snapping their jaws at the blue female, the female covered in fresh blood.

"_Don't move."_ Tsu'tey hissed, seeing how a large nantang slowly got closer to the clumsy female. The beast sniffed, determining if the big blood covered thing was edible or not. Slowly a long tongue reached out and licked her outstretched arm, tasting the blood.

Sarah just stared at the black dog licking her arm, considering if she was the next meal on his menu. Really hoping she wouldn't be bitten to death by this one and his friends, she was rather surprised to see him cough and then make a retching sound, before backing away and rejoining his pack. Slowly she got up on all four and backed closer to her friends, keeping a close eye on the bushes, so she wouldn't be jumped at when her back was turned.

Tsu'tey shook his head, not knowing what to think about this. He was glad she had not been attacked, but he was also puzzled to as why the nantang had not wanted to eat her, when she was dipped in fresh blood and smelling like the meat they took from her as she fell.

She passed him and gave him a puzzled look.

"_I must taste badly."_ She said with a smile and a shrug. She then lifted her arm and sniffed on the blood that covered her. "_I reek."_ She hissed and turned her face away, shuddering at her obvious foul smell.

"_Lucky for you then."_ He said coldly and went back to guard the meat.

She huffed and began to help out tying the meat sack together, so Jake and Rai'nek would be able to fly back Home.

* * *

After an hour of gathering the last items they wanted from the three carcasses, the hunting party left the clearing, leaving the remaining flesh for the scavengers. They would return in a few days, to get the bones they wanted for weapons making and other things they used them for at Hometree.

When riding back, Tsu'tey led them to a lake with a big waterfall, telling them all to get in and wash off the blood and grime, so they would look somewhat decent when they returned later that night. And so they would not permeate his nose with their foul stench.

The three females, including Sarah, that were about to become hunters of the clan, smiled at the prospect of getting clean and when they saw the lake glitter in the sunlight, they urged on their pa'li and rushed past the others and Tsu'tey that rode in the front, making him yell at them for not doing as they were told.

The other males just chuckled and enjoyed the view of the three females riding into the lake, water splashing around them as they rode in. They then got up on the backs of their pa'li, disconnected and dove in, swimming under the water. Then they resurfaced, big grins was plastered on all three's faces as they swam back to their waiting pa'li, heaving themselves up and they were almost clean, a few stains were left, but nothing a little syulang'yur could fix.

After the bath and a rest for totally an hour, they began their journey back to Hometree.

* * *

One early morning, a few days after they returned from the hunt, Sarah was poked at by the blunt end of a spear and as she rubbed her eyes from sleep, she saw Tsu'tey stand on the branch over her, motioning for her to come with him. He disappeared then, and she assumed he was waiting for her on the ground.

When she got up, she felt how moist the branch were under her feet, it must have rained during the night, as fog was covering her normal view through the branches, covering everything green she normally saw each morning when she got up.

It was a gloomy morning to wake up to; it reminded her of looking out through her window back on Earth every morning of her life there. Stretching her body, she picked up her bow she had hanging on a smaller branch next to her hammock, as she hadn't got her own _P'ah s'ivil chey_, or _chey_ to hang her belongings on. Norm hadn't started on one as she knew of, he was as busy with his training as she was and she hadn't begun to work on one for him. Only family or loved ones were allowed to make one for her as it was said to strengthen the bond between family and clan.

Hurrying down to the ground, she saw Tsu'tey stand and wait for her, his posture strict and serious and then she knew. She was going to make her hexapede kill today. If she succeeded and Tsu'tey saw her ready, they would soon leave for the Iknimaya.

"_I am ready, karyu."_ She greeted him with a bow.

He huffed.

"_We shall see."_

He then turned and ran ahead, not looking back to see if she followed him.

* * *

He had taken her to a waterfall where the hexapede used to drink. From there, she was on her own, he would only observe her.

Finding a fresh trail in the mud, she began her trek down streams, remembering that tall grass grew there, a place favored by the animal, excellent for hiding in. Following the stream; she soon led them to the tall grass, where the trails entered. Now came the difficult part, to find the animal without getting noticed and making it run away.

Glancing around, she saw a tall tree grow a bit from where she stood, grabbing hold of one vine, she climbed up quickly and as silently as she could, getting a bird's view of the area with tall grass.

Looking out over the landscape, she suddenly saw movement in the far off part, and saw that the hexapede, a young male, was on its way through the tall grass, making its way out of the area. Seeing that the trees grew in a circle around the area, Sarah began to swing, jump and climb through them, so she would get to the other side in time, before the hexapede ran away.

Tsu'tey was on her tail the whole time, seeing that she used all the things he had taught her. He was pleased with her; she would be a fine huntress when she made it through Iknimaya.

Arriving to the tree she had deemed her 'final stop', she silently climbed down and hid in the bushes below. Then she saw it, the hexapede came strolling out through the tall grass, not a care in the world, though he had his attention on the surroundings, watching his steps carefully before he dared to leave the tall grass.

He walked softly over the moss, passing by Sarah's hiding place and continued down a softly trampled path. When he had walked about twenty meters, he stopped and looked around, before he began to eat from a bush with berries, relaxing a bit as he didn't feel threatened.

Slowly crawling out from the bush, she came up in a crouch and slowly raised her bow and notched an arrow.

The young hexapede never saw the arrow as it sunk into its side, hitting its heart.

Sarah ran up to the shuddering animal and brandished her knife quickly, laying her hand on the side and began the prayer.

"_I See You, brother, and thank you. Your spirit goes to Eywa and your body stays behind to become one of the People."_ She said hurriedly and let the knife sink into the side, next to the arrow. A soft sigh was heard and the hexapede stilled forever more.

Tsu'tey saw that she was ready, ready to face a possible death.

He walked up to her as she pulled out her knife, tenderly stroking the soft skin of the animal's neck, knowing he would feed the people and his spirit would go to Eywa and never lack anything.

Crouching down next to her, he saw the female she had become, and the female she would be, once she had her ikran.

"_You are ready."_ He said softly, making her turn towards him.

Their eyes met, he saw the respect she held for him there and also something more. Her pupils dilated, letting him know of her excitement. Glancing down, he saw her pink tongue dart out, wetting her lips, drawing him closer. Placing one hand on her shoulder, he felt her skin burn.

* * *

Sarah saw into his eyes, seeing the pride he felt for her, for making her kill. He also held a certain degree of admiration in them, and then her eyes were drawn to his lips, from which his tongue came out and moistened them. His hand burned on her shoulder and she felt him pull her closer to his frame, almost letting their lips touch, but not yet, she only felt his breath on her lips.

* * *

He felt her breath on his lips; she was just a short distance away from him. His mind battled in which decision to make. To kiss a dream-walker, or to kiss the female in front of him, which was the right decision?

* * *

Neither could take the final step, so the decision was made for them, by Norm.

When he came rushing through the jungle, shouting at his sister that he had made his kill and he would soon go through with his Iknimaya, he didn't absorb the scene in front of him completely, as the two, almost kissing, moved apart as quick as they could.

Tsu'tey stood up and turned away from her, turning to look at her brother with a murderous glare and then he sees his Olo'eyktan come behind Normspellman, smiling at his friends antiques. When Jake sees the glare Tsu'tey gives Norm, he looks at Sarah, who is still crouching by her kill, but her bioluminescent spots are shining as bright they does in the night.

Looking back to Tsu'tey, he suddenly made the connection and a big goofy grin was plastered on his face. Wait until Neytiri heard of this. He then wiggles his eyebrows to the warrior, and then winks.

Tsu'tey has been taught by Jake what those things mean and growls at the childishness the Olo'eyktan shows. If only he could strangle them both.

Behind him, Sarah was pulled up from the ground, being congratulated by Norm and still she blushed, thinking of what may have happened unless they had been interrupted.

Norm was so happy that they both could go through the Iknimaya that he didn't notice the mortified condition his sister was in. He was overjoyed and the whole way back to Hometree, he explained how he killed his hexapede.

They followed Tsu'tey and Jake back to Hometree and all Sarah could think of was what would have been.

* * *

The day for going through the final step was here.

Iknimaya.

The one event that would precede the second birth or lead the way to Eywa.

She was scared.

But she would go through it.

One week before the climb up to the ikran nest, they all had practiced with the _Meresh'ti cau'pla,_ the banshee catcher. And they had also wrestled with each other, one playing the ikran and attacking, the other one trying to catch and subdue.

On the morning of the climb, Sarah told Max to not disconnect her no matter what happened. If she died, then it was meant to happen. She made him promise, though the scientist did so reluctantly. He knew that she may not return at all, or the avatar body would be killed and she would live in her human body for the rest of her life.

That might kill her, not being able to return into the jungle.

* * *

When they left Hometree, the rest of the clan both wished them luck and bid them farewell, if they wouldn't see them alive again. It was sad to think of that, but that was the truth. All eight that were hoping for bonding with their ikran might not return to Hometree alive.

The night before, Neytiri and Sarah's other friends had made sure her hair was secure, so that it might not hinder her when wrestling with the ikran that choose her. Sarah told them that if she would not return, the white pearls belonged to them, signifying their friendship.

As sad as it was, they promised to honor her wish.

When riding up to the pathway that led to the nest. Sarah could just feel excitement and fear in her blood. She did not know how this day would end. In tears or in laughter?

Looking up ahead, she could see the large floating mountains, tied to the ground with large vines, as big as tree trunks. Her pa'li felt her fear and neighed, telling the rider to decide to go or stop.

"_Mawey… Ko…"_ She urged and calmed down enough to keep going.

Tsu'tey rode in the front with Jakesully, and he heard one pa'li neigh in mild distress and he glanced over his shoulder to see and saw the pa'li the female rode on was torn between decisions, probably caused by her fears and excitement to go through this final step.

Her eyes showed her thoughts, pending between fear and anticipation, just as he had done many years ago.

Finally arriving to the starting point, Jake ordered the younglings to dismount and gather by the largest vine and to look up to their goal.

"_Come with me!"_ Jake commanded and began to climb up on the path to Heaven.

Falling in line, Sarah ended up behind one that Jake had trained and behind her came Norm. And though he was her brother, she was glad she had her Na'vi made underwear on, it would not be a good climb to know someone could look up on her ass.

The one in front of her was different, one quick glance made her focus on the climbing, and where she grabbed on to. She didn't want to look up on another male's ass. Or any other bits.

Whilst climbing, she sometimes felt like she was climbing a completely vertical wall, and she really was. To lose her grip would be devastating.

When coming to the highest point of the first floating pathway, the climb had taken roughly a half-an-hour to complete and Sarah felt really winded and hoped they would have a chance to rest some before they tried to catch their ikran.

Seeing Jake jump off the cliff he was standing on above her, her breath hitched in fear, but then she saw him cling to a vine and the others after him followed quickly. When she got up, the male before her grabbed the last vine and they had to wait for a few minutes before the next set came in range for them to jump to. The rock they stood on tilted forward as the others came up behind her, shifting the weight.

While waiting, she dared a glance down and saw a few ikran fly beneath them and it looked beautiful.

"_Kivä ko!"_ An annoyed voice told her, Tsu'tey, and she looked up to see that the closest vine almost was in her reach.

Focusing on that vine, she waited until it was almost right in front of her, then she jumped and got a hold of it, but she slid down a meter, before she remembered to use her feet.

Tsu'tey held his breath when he saw her slide down the vine before she began to climb upwards, using her strong legs. She climbed with long, confident movements and didn't look down once.

Soon they all reached the long bridge, which was the final obstacle to pass before they reached the rock that held the nest of the ikran.

Sarah couldn't help but to stop for a moment, to take in the beauty of it all. On the other side of the long vine-bridge, she could see another big piece of the mountain float, gently pulling in the bridge they were about to walk over. It was frightening to know that if she made one faulty step, she would plummet to her death; no one would be able to save her.

"_Go faster."_ Tsu'tey urged as he passed her with the others he had trained with her.

"_Just admiring the view." _She mumbled and jumped down and ran after him.

When she looked out to her right, she could see the gas giant – _Polyphemus_, looking like perfect circular cloud in the sky. It was one thing to see on a picture, but here, it was something magnificent. Next to the giant orb, another smaller orb was visible, one of the other thirteen moons that was visible to Pandora.

She also saw the other floating mountains, many without any kind of connection to the ground; therefore only ikran riders could reach them and explore them.

Where the bridge ended, it connected with the mountain that held the nest and they had to climb again. Like ants they scurried up along the vegetation, finding nooks and crannies to place their hands and feet.

After that climb, they found the entrance to a cave, which were enlightened with natural occurring holes from the roof, letting the sun shine through. The rocky path was hard on her feet and she wanted to find some soft moss to walk on, but found none. The echo of their feet was heard in the cave, and finally they saw the end of it, the sun shining through a larger opening.

There was a small waterfall inside the cave, the water coming from the roof and it had formed a small natural pool in there. To their left a bigger waterfall was seen.

Suddenly, they could hear the cries of the ikran and they all hurried to the edge and saw hundreds of ikran fly about, old and younger. It was a most magnificent sight.

"_Take off anything that will get in your way."_ Jake said, pointing to a wall, which had a natural made shelf that would fit their weapons. "_When you have caught your ikran you return here and get your things."_

Sarah lifted her bow off her back and felt if she would remove her knife too, but Tsu'tey passed her and shook his head.

"_You might need it."_ He said and walked up to Jake, discussing which of their groups that would go first.

After a moment they both nodded and Jake looked on them.

"_You four trained by me, will go first. You other will wait here or watch."_ He pointed at the bigger waterfall and made his group follow him.

Everybody followed Jake through, except Sarah, who stood looking out on the flying ikran. And Tsu'tey, who looked at the female, seeing her shiver slightly. He turned to go through the waterfall, but was stopped.

"_Tsu'tey… may I speak with you?"_ Sarah said softly and looked at the warrior. She held her hand on her leather pouch on her hip and fiddled with the string to it.

He nodded and walked closer, but she looked to the waterfall and he understood she wanted a bit more privacy, if someone came back. He pointed to where they had come from and they walked to stand in the opening, before it began to descend.

"_You know that I might not make it through this, but I want to, I need to feel everything you feel when you fly with your life-friend."_ She started and pulled loose the string holding her pouch to her hip and opened it.

Tsu'tey knew very well that she might not make it, but he did not wish it, no, he wanted her to make it, to make him proud to have been her teacher and friend.

"_I want to give you this before I go out there."_ She nodded to the waterfall behind her and then pulled out an arm bracelet with white and green stones.

He found it pretty and he saw that it was made by a beginner, rather than one who had made many bracelets before. It was a bit uneven and the beads did not sit perfectly aligned, but it had its charm.

"_It is rightfully yours, Tsu'tey."_ She stepped closer to him and raised her hands slightly, indicating she wanted to put it on him. He turned his right side to her, giving her permission to put it on his right arm, where it would fit above his other arm bracelet, made of simple brown leather.

Moving as close as she needed, she lifted the bracelet up and placed it on his arm, gently tying the strings together with a knot she had been shown, which would not irritate and would let the bracelet stay on until the wearer decided to take it off.

He felt her soft fingers touch him and glanced down. Then he saw the beads and the formation they sat in, making him recognize it.

"_Female, where did you get this?"_ He asked seriously, as he had thought it was lost in the flames.

"_I found it, on the day the ele'wll stung me. We passed by the old Hometree before that and a few atokirina showed me to it."_ She looked up at him, making him see that she spoke the truth. "_I took it, cleaned it and made this for you. I think your father and mother would have wanted that."_ She smiled softly at him and finished the knot.

He looked at her, surprised that she knew it had belonged to his mother, then his father, as she had given the original necklace to his father as a gift when she accepted him as her mate. If the female in front of him knew that, then maybe…?

"_How did you know it belonged to my father?"_ He wanted to know, why would she know this?

"_I dreamt, on the day after you yelled at me."_ She said, thinking back on his harsh words, which she had forgiven him for, but not quite forgotten.

He remembered he had been angry, angry that she might leave them, when she had barely begun her journey with them and him.

"_They, your mother and father, visited me in a dream. And there I saw the necklace around his neck. They were happy, Tsu'tey."_ She smiled and saw that the warrior's eyes got blank; showing her that he still missed them, like she missed her parents.

"_What did they tell you?"_ He wanted to know more, they had not visited him since they died and he wanted to see them again.

"_To stay with the Omaticaya. Though your mother suggested that I should take another teacher, since you behaved like you did. But I understood that you only looked out for me, as a student and as a sister in the Clan."_

Tsu'tey couldn't believe that they had visited her and not him after all these years. He was jealous of that, but they might have a reason to do so, one that they didn't tell her.

He was about to speak with her, when Jake's voice echoed through the cave.

"_Brother, it is your younglings' turn in a moment."_

"_Oìss."_ He hissed, not liking the fact that soon she would be out there and might not come back.

Sarah looked at the waterfall; where beyond her future was waiting for her. She then looked back to Tsu'tey, who looked really upset. Not knowing if she would ever do this again, she walked up to him, met his confused eyes when she laid her hand over his heart and reached up on her toes and placed a soft kiss on his cheek. Then she let her cheek come closer to his, gently touching it with hers and whispered words she had never told him in his ear.

"_I See You, Tsu'tey."_

She then withdrew from him, gave him a last look and turned to walk through the waterfall.

He touched his own cheek, feeling the lingering warmth from her lips and skin. Her breath had softly tickled his ear and made him feel like he would soon lose his most precious possession. Cursing, he took two steps and grabbed hold of her upper arm, pulling her close to his frame. He saw her shocked expression and heard her gasp when she collided with him. Not caring what she would do or think, he grabbed her other arm and pressed her to his chest, bending down his head and covered her lips with his.

She stood like a yerik frozen in front of the palulukan, not knowing what to do at first. After a short moment, it felt like that, he let her lips go and he met her confused gaze and then his serous expression turned into a smirk and he wrapped his arms around her, freeing her arms and kissed her again, nudging her closed lips open with his probing tongue, making her gasp against his mouth when his tail wrapped around her thigh and the tip caressed her ass lightly. He took advantage of that, pulling her closer and kissing her like there was no tomorrow, only today mattered.

Her arms then found their way around his neck, holding him to her, not wanting to let go of him, her warrior. This might be their first and last kiss.

Knowing that he had a role to uphold, Tsu'tey made the really hard decision to push her away, ending the kiss way too early. He then knew she liked him, but did she like him enough? Enough to consider him as a potential mate?

"_Go, you have an ikran to tame."_ He gave her a push towards the waterfall, her confusion obvious in her eyes, but she obeyed him, turning and disappearing through the water.

Tsu'tey remained for another moment, evil images flashed through his mind. Images of her heart being pierced of the sharp claws of an ikran.

If that happened, he would never know what might have been.

* * *

**Authors note:** Sooo, whaddya think? This is one of the longest chapters, couldn't find a good place to cut it, it would have made you guys very upset, right?

Next chapter – Sarah tries to tame her ikran.

Please give me long reviews! =)


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